


We'll Face Ourselves GOLDEN: Saphir de Lune

by JessicaX



Series: We'll Face Ourselves-verse [2]
Category: Persona 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual Character, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexuality, Bulimia, Cameos, Canon Compliant, F/F, Lesbian Sex, No Lesbians Die, Novella, POV Bisexual Character, Persona 5 Cameos, Sequel, Trans Female Character, Transgender, Useless Lesbians
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:42:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28531653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessicaX/pseuds/JessicaX
Summary: At the end of "We'll Face Ourselves", sparks flew between Rise Kujikawa and Ai Ebihara - sparks of pure hatred. But as they say, love and hate are two sides of the same coin. Will these prissy teen queens find their way into each other's lives... or mutually assured destruction? [Rise/Ai, novella]
Relationships: Amagi Yukiko/Satonaka Chie, Ebihara Ai/Kujikawa Rise, Shirogane Naoto & Tatsumi Kanji
Series: We'll Face Ourselves-verse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2090043
Comments: 36
Kudos: 22
Collections: Lesbian Adult Content, Persona 4 All Fanworks Collection, Persona 4 fanfic collection but its gay ships. (With the exception of Kanji and Naoto and a few unmentioned.), Trans Stories, ☆ Homoerotica / Lesbianism / Yuri ☆





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> NOTICE: Characters/settings ©2008 Atlus. Story © me. All rights reserved. Cover art by takethesnowtrain. E for explicit sexual situations and coarse dialogue (only tagged "Underage" for safety as some characters may technically be under the age of 18, though all are in their late teens).
> 
> WARNING: Rise's views and Ai's views on the LGBT community, and especially those of other characters in this work of fiction, do not always line up with those of the author. Please do your own research! The more you understand, the better our world will be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year! Welcome to my particularly long and exhaustive crackship tome that literally no one asked for! What else is new, right? The first scene of this chapter is almost entirely copy-pasted from my other P4 fanfiction, "We'll Face Ourselves", though I tried to spruce it up and shift perspective so it doesn't feel like quite so much rehash. I thought it served as a nice lead-in to this story, with some added focus on the new ship. The second half of this chapter and the rest of the fic is all-new, don't worry. The "Golden" is more a reference to it being additional "dlc" for my other fic, not to me specifically focusing on Marie or any such content exclusive to P4G. Apologies if this dashes anyone's expectations but I hope you enjoy the fic regardless!
> 
> As for anyone wishing for that fic to debut... you know the one... well, all things in time. Soon, I promise. In the meantime, check me out at [jxsleator dot carrd dot co](https://jxsleator.carrd.co/) !
> 
> Jessex

**PROLOGUE**

Once upon a time, in the quaint town of Inaba… a minstrel girl and a stubborn princess fought over a handsome prince. Very briefly.

"Can't you give me a little kiss goodbye?" the minstrel pulled back to look up into the boy's stoic face, her large doe eyes shining with tears — on purpose. She was a top notch minstrel, after all. "Something to keep me from… from _dying_ from missing you?"

"Oh _please,_ " the quiet innkeeper muttered under her breath with a begrudging smile.

However, the prince obliged the minstrel girl with a kindly kiss upon the forehead. She was in awe of his tenderness. Right up until…

"Excuse me? What do you think _you're_ doing, you bitch?!"

The others pulled back to see royalty approaching, hands on her hips. A truly glamorous princess indeed, even though her regal vestments weren't nearly as radiant as they had been in days past. The ever-present lacy pink turtleneck lived underneath a cardigan today rather than her school uniform.

"What is _who_ doing?" the pouting siren protested, clinging a little tighter to her prince's arm.

"You! Little trollop!" The flawless beauty stomped over to the two of them, honey-brown waves bouncing as she got right up in the singer's face. "Take your greedy little paws _off_ my boyfriend!"

The idol stamped her foot and snapped, "HEY! I don't see your name on him anywhere!"

The prince gulped and began to back away. "Uh…"

"Really?" the princess scoffed. "What makes you think you have any claim to him, slut puppy? He went to the festival with me — _and_ spent Christmas Eve with me, too! And for your goddamn information, we got pretty close!"

Though the siren was comely, and manipulative toward many of the young suitors in the land, it was in playful jest; she did consider them friends but couldn't seem to suppress her womanly wiles, so she flirted for sport. Alas, the princess wounded her deeply with such words; her lip wobbled at the princess's declarations, even though that may have been for show.

"Senpai, say that's not true! How could you, when I… I let you… _you know!"_

"Hey, it doesn't count when I'm just sitting there and you plop your butt down on my hand," the prince said reasonably. "And Ai-chan, we hugged a little; please don't tease her by making it sound like more."

The prince's pair of suitresses were chagrined. The princess seemed a little more genuinely hurt than her rival for his attentions but neither were particularly happy with being called out.

"Whew," the flop-haired jester exhaled, wiping his brow. "Don't know how you get away with it, juggling two chicks like that."

"That's not…" The prince sighed, shaking his head as he facepalmed. "Maybe I'm glad to be leaving."

But in truth, he was not. Nor was anyone else present. As they alternately squabbled and lamented the prince's parting, other classmates and citizens of Inaba began to approach to wish him bon voyage. He really had left an impression in the short year he had lived there. When the train whistle signalled that it was about to pull away, the bickering came to an end so they could truly see their friend off. A lot of tearful hugs and well wishes were offered before the prince was inside, looking out the window at them as it pulled away from the station. They ran after him all the way to the end of the platform until they ran out of space, then stood waving after him until the train was completely out of sight.

And thus the prince's tale gave way to another. One about a minstrel who had lost her way and found it again, and a princess who had not always known she was a princess at all.

* * *

CHAPTER ONE

"I just… he really left," Rise Kujikawa finally sobbed now that the click-clack sounds of the train had faded into the distance.

"Geez, turn it off already," Yosuke Hanamura sighed as he clasped his hands behind his neck, pressing his floppy hair hard against his neck. They turned away to start toward home or wherever the night might take them. "You don't have to keep up the act when he's not even here."

"Act?!" She shoved him from behind, and he stumbled a couple of steps as his arms windmilled out to the sides, attempting to regain his balance. "Not cool, Hanamura! I am grieving the death of my relationship!"

"What relationship?" Kanji Tatsumi grunted.

"Boys, you could be a little more sensitive," Yukiko Amagi told them in an even, reasonable tone. She was dabbing at her eyes like everyone else, and leaning a little more heavily than usual on her best friend, Chie Satonaka, but she seemed to be maintaining her composure better than Rise could manage. "We're all going to miss him so much."

"I'm just trying to get Rise to wake up," Yosuke persisted anyway. "She's delusional. We all know Nakamura was trying to scam on that chick at the hospital."

"What?"

"You know. The nurse. Though I think she moved away…"

Kanji cleared his throat. "Actually, I… thought that woman with the kid was his squeeze. Y'know, the one that came up to him a minute ago?"

Chie squeaked, "He was doing _what_ with _who?!_ That's… why? Why chase a married woman?!"

"Oh, I thought it was one of you girls."

The group of them turned to blink at the girl from the drama club. "Who are you again?" Yosuke asked — very rudely, even though they were all thinking it.

"Yumi Ozawa," she said softly with a slight bow. "He gave me a great deal of help when I was dealing with my own family problems, you know. And… well, I revealed I had feelings for him, and he shut me down. Just said he wanted to remain friends, and it's hard to argue with that, isn't it?"

While Chie and Yukiko were chattering to her about that, the boys suffering through a "girly" conversation they had no interest in, the slightly jealous Rise found herself momentarily distracted. Everyone kept moving along as she slowly came to a halt, turned her white sandals off to the side, and approached someone who looked like she could use her company. Even if she wasn't absolutely sure of that.

"You okay over here?"

"Oh… no, no, I'm fine. Mind your own goddamn business."

"Wooooow. I guess that's what I get for caring, huh?"

"Wait," Ebihara suddenly blurted, standing up from the bus stop bench and taking a couple of steps toward her. "All right, I may have been unnecessarily rude. I just have no idea why you would want to talk to me when I was your rival for Narukami's affections."

"Because you looked kind of pathetic over here, all by yourself."

"I did not! I'm not 'pathetic', I'm legitimately upset that my boyfriend left!"

"He wasn't your…" But at least she managed to cut herself off with a roll of her eyes, swallowing down the jab and instead moving to hold onto Ebihara's shoulder. Tears were already rolling down the teen queen's cheeks, and her voice was tight and strangled, as if she were fighting back tears — clearly a losing battle. "He could never stay here. We all kind of knew that, and just talked ourselves out of believing it. I'm so mad! But… I have to get over it."

Clearly shocked by her more reasonable response, the prissy girl took a moment longer to respond herself. By the time she did, she was looking down toward their shoes. "Completely ridiculous. Right? I should have known better, I… ugh, I'm so _pissed_ at myself."

"Right?!" Rise still wanted to slap her for trying to steal the boy of her dreams, but it really felt irrelevant now. So instead she tried for her most convincing smile — which, considering her previous vocation, was extremely convincing — and said, "Hey, um, why don't you try getting to know us a little better? Might as well, since you'll have more time on your hands now."

"Sounds stupid." The words came out so fraught with emotion that they were nearly unintelligible, but Rise still understood. "But I have nothing better to do, so lead on."

However, the closer they drew to the remaining group of students, the more anxious the prima donna became. Rise didn't know why exactly — and she couldn't know until Ai cleared her throat to get their attention. She could tell Naoto had been deep in discussion with Yukiko and Chie, though not what about.

"Yes?" Yukiko prompted her in mild surprise.

"I… thought I should say… I am sorry." She swallowed hard, brows furrowed. The expression still made her look angry and snobby, despite her tone of voice being gentle now; she just had resting bitch face. "Probably too late. But I was really going through some things when I sidelined you two in Aiya, and being rude is second nature to me. Can't be the most stunning girl in school without it going to your head, can you?"

"You say that like I would ever know," Chie snorted.

"Right. And… normally I would be agreeing with you and belittling you, Bowl Cu- I mean, Satonaka. I have a lot of practice." Grimacing, she growled, "Got so used to being queen bitch that it's hard to just be nice."

After a brief silence, so awkward that it felt as if any sound would have been preferable, Yukiko laid a hand on Ai's arm, gentle and reassuring. "Please, Ai-san. We all have darkness inside of us; nobody is a perfect person. So I think it's very admirable you're seeing your flaws and that you're trying to improve. I am the same, and so are my friends."

"Oh yeah?" The girl let out a wet-sounding laugh; indeed, tears were budding at the corners of her eyes. "How the hell aren't _you_ perfect, Miss Goody Two-Shoes? I mean… I've always been so jealous of how the boys talk about you. No 'buts'."

"No butts?!" Chie burst out. "What do you mean? She's got a GREAT butt!"

Ai chuckled a little more heartily at that. Naoto was the only one who tapped her chin while noticing Yukiko's slight blush from the compliment; the others weren't paying it any attention. "No, no, not her ass. Which — fine, sure, it's fantastic. I mean like, they describe both of us as really beautiful, or hot or whatever. Same words for both of us. But with me, it always had a 'but she's such a bitch', 'but she's stuck up', 'but she's psycho' attached. Yukiko… a couple of guys _said_ you were snooty if you turned them down for a date, but the rest of them saw through that. You're a good woman and I'm just a good- _looking_ woman. I did so much work to be beautiful so boys would like me, but I'm just… ugly on the inside."

Though clearly, Yukiko was about to speak up, Chie beat her to the punch. "So that's it, huh? You're pathetic."

 _"Excuse_ me?"

"C'mon, Ebihara. You're made of tougher stuff than that. Where's that girl who slammed her leg up on the table in Aiya and demanded we appreciate it?"

Though the teen queen had been firing up, being reminded of that moment in the diner made her squirm and fold her arms tightly over her chest. "That was stupid. Do you wanna know why I did that?" When Yukiko nodded, she pushed ahead, "Thing is, I was a... when I was little, I was nowhere near the adorable Ai you see before you now. Fat and hideous, got told I had pig hooves. So like, I'm sure it sounds really stupid to you guys, but having dainty little feet now is super amazing to me still."

 _"You_ were fat?!" Chie demanded, looking her up and down afresh. "No way! I call bullshit!"

"Yep, a total blimp. And I got hella teased because I didn't match up with their…" What a pregnant pause. "W-whatever. Yu already knows all this stuff, but pretty much I decided to reinvent myself when I found out we were moving to Inaba. Obviously it went to my head, but… at least I'm better now. Getting better all the time."

The rest of the Investigation Team was speechless. Rise, for her part, couldn't believe the superficial teen queen actually had some substance under that lip gloss. Certainly hadn't seemed that way when Ai basically bit her head off just for being at the shopping center with Narukami. Maybe he was the one responsible. After all, the stoic boy had touched all their lives, brought about an awakening of sorts to their inner beauty that they likely would never have found within themselves without him shedding that light. It just seemed to be one of his latent talents. Unsurprising that he had done the same for the entitled fashionista.

"There seems to be only one solution for this predicament," Naoto was stating firmly with a small nod, finger tapping her chin. "We must return to Aiya to remember our departed friend, and strengthen our bonds with each other."

"Oooh, a party!" Rise piped up with an excited little bounce, despite the light drizzle that was beginning to fall. "Yes _please!"_

"I guess that's a plan," Chie agreed as Rise, Kanji and Yosuke joined them. "What do you guys think? We catching the portal to the meat dimension?"

Grimacing, Yosuke demanded, "Do you have to call it that _every_ time, Satonaka?! Geesh! Sounds super nasty."

"Bet you can't even handle it."

"Wha- OH YEAH?! BRING IT ON!"

~ o ~

"PHWOOOO! I can't even _look_ at it anymore!"

The ragtag group of assorted teenagers, who would seemingly have nothing in common from an outsider's perspective, were all sitting back and holding their stomachs by now. It was almost painful how much meat was straining to escape the linings of their stomachs. Actually, it _was_ painful for some of them.

"Yyyyeah," Rise groaned in agreement with Yukiko's statement, arms like wet noodles at her sides. "My… I'm pregnant… food baby…"

"Even _I'm_ feeling it a little," Chie was chuckling as Rise staggered to her feet. "And normally I can demolish one of these no sweat!"

"Must be… getting old," Yosuke said as their voices began to fade into the background. She could hear Satonaka clapping back at him, but once the bathroom door shut she could no longer identify words, just noise.

In fact… there was a new noise filling the ladies' restroom. Not a pleasant one. Brow furrowing as her lip curled in disgust, she glanced at the bottoms of the stalls and saw a pair of designer shoes with their soles facing up.

"Is… are you okay… in there?"

"HRRK!" What a weird noise — but not nearly as weird as the sound of pronounced retching that followed. God, how disgusting! Maybe she should just backpedal out of the bathroom… but before she could act, there was some spitting, a clearing of the throat, and a strained tone calling out, "Mind your own business! Do you have to be so fucking nosey?!"

Oh no. "Wait — Ebihara?"

"Yes! And this isn't something I want anybody to…" Another gagging noise. "Ugh… you probably have an Aqua Balance on you, don't you, Risette?"

Her eye twitched. "Just because I did the commercials doesn't mean I have a bag full of them on me at all times, you know!" But she still hated to hear a girl in need, so she forced herself to continue, "Need me to hold your hair back?"

"No, I… I got it. Practice."

"Practice? Just how often do you toss your cookies?!"

Dead. Silence. When it had gone on for a few seconds too long to be normal, Rise began to sense she had broached a topic that Ebihara did not want broached. Her brow creased harder, and eventually she said in a meek voice, "I'll… go get you some water."

"Thanks."

She was so preoccupied as she hit the bar to get some ice water for the prissy girl that she didn't even comprehend the words of her friends calling out to her — though she couldn't even see Chie and Yukiko at the table anymore. The rest were probably asking her what she was doing. And what _was_ she doing? Why was she helping this complete bitch who would never do the same thing for her? There was no doubt in her mind that Ebihara would have completely ignored her if she found her voiding her stomach in a public restroom. Might even have laughed at her. But she still remembered how distraught she looked when they said goodbye to their mutual love interest.

Maybe hanging out with the Investigation Team had revived the conscience of a jaded teen idol who had taken a brief hiatus from the spotlight. No, it definitely had done that; what was in question was whether or not the same could be said of Ebihara's willingness to open up to her peers.

"Okay, here," she sighed as she opened the door — and almost ran straight into the girl's face. "WHOA!"

"Shit!" Ai yelped as she took a step back, then patted down her chest. "You made my soul leave my body — what the hell are you doing?!"

"Bringing you water! Do you need to add a little ginkgo to your diet, _Obaachan?!_ It's been like one minute since I told you!"

"Fuck your water! I'm gone, I don't need this!" And she actually tried to push past her.

"Wha- hey! No, you don't just get to run off like this!"

"Don't you tell me what I can and can't do, you cow! Now get your goddamn cankles and your crow's feet out of my fucking way!"

Holy shit. That was a lot of random venom. Rise knew already that she didn't have either of those things, but she still felt the sting regardless.

"I… was trying to help you, but fine. Go away." And she stepped to the side with a flip of one of her mauve-tinted pigtails. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out, brat."

What a mistake it had been to be nice to Ebihara. They were too much alike. Sure, Rise knew how to be polite, and was always warm and affectionate with her friends, but they both had the Bitch Gene and it ran strong through their veins. Ebi just _led_ with that instead of saving it for people who deserved it.

She wasn't sure how long she had been standing there, looking stubbornly into the corner, before she felt the glass of water being taken from her fingers. She started to grab after it — instinct telling her she had dropped it and needed to catch it — until she saw Ai swishing it around in her mouth, then turning to spit into the sink.

"Oh," she breathed.

"What?" Ai grunted before she tipped the glass up again and started gulping it down. The lacy choker above her turtleneck bobbed with every swallow.

"Nothing, I just thought- I mean, did you leave and come back?"

Breathing a loud sigh as she set the glass down, she turned to glare at Rise. "Nosey. You ask too many questions all the time."

"I do not! They're really normal questions; you're just a bitch."

Her eyebrows furrowed, and her jaw tightened. Rise was absolutely positive she was about to give her a tongue lashing. But then she just snorted and shook her head, looking away.

"Wow. I don't know what I expected from Risette, but it wasn't you."

"I know," she began, making this up as she went along. "You either thought I would be completely spoiled and stuck up like you, or I would be such a goody-goody that I never had anything mean to say about anyone. Those are the two flavours of idols, right?"

Ebi smirked and pressed an open palm to the center of her chest. "I spoil myself. And I told you what I went through as a child; don't I deserve it? Isn't this my time to shine?"

"Not if it means you piss off everyone around you while shining. That's just selfish, you know. Don't you care about anyone but yourself?"

"No. Why should I? They don't care about me." Her haughty tone turned bitter. "Nobody in Inaba. Not anymore."

Most of her ire fading, she said, "You gotta put yourself out there. This whole time we've been at Aiya, you barely said a word. I actually forgot you were here until I heard you puking your guts out."

"See my point? The boys who idolize me are the only ones that remember I exist. And even them… I know they don't care about me as a person. They just keep hoping a strong breeze will show them a little flash of my panties."

"No, that's not right. I'm trying to tell you that it's your fault."

"Excuse me?"

"How are we supposed to get to know you if you just hang in the background and never say anything? That doesn't-"

"Look, I don't need to take this," Ebi sighed with a roll of her hazel eyes. "At this point, I just want to go home and be alone. Is that allowed? Or are you going to block the door again?"

Rise's lips thinned in frustration. It wasn't worth it. She didn't want to keep banging her head against this brick wall anymore. So she didn't even say a word; just turned her back on Ebi before she said something particularly nasty.

"Thanks for the water," the other girl offered shortly as she strode out through the door. And that really was it.

"At least she thanked me," she muttered to herself as she finally took her place in one of the stalls to do her business. But in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but replay those conversations over and over in her head.

Because none of that blustering truly hid the fact that Ai Ebihara was in pain. And if nobody did anything about it, Rise was almost dead certain she was heading for disaster.

* * *

_To Be Continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

Spring vacation was kind to the pop idol formerly known as Risette. She and her friends spent a lot of time in the park or at Junes, hanging around at each other's houses. It was never the same with Narukami gone but sometimes they could come pretty close, and that was worth doing.

Though she had hoped to see Ebihara in town, maybe check in with her again despite the way they left things, apparently the priss had taken off with her family or something. Oh well. It wasn't exactly that she desperately wanted to interact with her, she just didn't like knowing a friend was hurting and she couldn't help. No matter how new and rocky the friendship was.

She also wound up being busy throughout the end of March because she was trying to restart her career. At first, her agent and the agency she had belonged to were resistant to the idea of letting her back in; it seemed they had some sort of issue with putting a lot of time and effort into an idol who would only abandon them. But her putting on a sugary sweet tone and telling them she missed them _so much_ , while also saying she would be _so sad_ if she had to work for a different agency instead, did the trick. Never underestimate the effectiveness of flattery and a veiled threat when used in tandem.

Logistics and singing lessons had kept her busy for most of the remaining break. Three days remained until the new school year started up. They had all been anxious about going into their final year — well, the older students. Rise and Kanji and Naoto would just be starting their second year.

"Boring Friday in boring Inaba," Yosuke was sighing as they slowly walked into town.

"Yep," Chie groaned.

"Not for one of us," Naoto mentioned. "How did your audition go, Rise?"

The teen idol huffed and folded her arms over her chest. "Can you believe they actually made me re-audition? They know I can do the work! This was just a power play to make me feel bad for taking a break in the first place."

"Sure," Yosuke snorted. "They probably thought you were past your prime. They don't know what we know."

"And… what do 'we' know?"

"That you are still the mega-hot Risette that we all know and love. Like, you haven't even gained any weight or anything!"

While Yukiko and Chie were groaning and Kanji was face-palming, Rise smiled sweetly and bounced closer to Yosuke's side. "Aww, you knew just what I needed to hear! Thanks, sweetie!"

His entire face turned red, and his floppy brown hair seemed to twitch back and forth. _"S-s-s-sweetie!"_

"Don't encourage him," Chie grunted with a firm shake of her head. "You know he's too dumb to figure out you're just messing with him."

"Yeah, I am! Wait- I mean, I'm not- _she's_ not! You…"

"Give it up, man," Kanji sighed heavily, pounding him on the back so hard that he staggered.

"Oh, I'm gonna get a melon soda," Rise piped up before the argument got out of hand. "Anybody else want one?"

"If it's fizzy," Yukiko said with a modest smile. "Chie wants orange with pulp."

"Hey! You don't know that for sure," Chie yelped… with a highly suspicious blush breaking out across her cheeks. Yukiko only giggled.

By now, Rise was walking over to the vending machine in front of Souzai Daigaku. She was starting to get a little suspicious of Yukiko and Chie… but she definitely didn't want to accuse them of anything. Especially considering how uncomfortable Naoto still seemed surrounding the issues of gender and sexuality. Kanji talked a big game about being over all that stuff, at least, but Naoto got very quiet and nervous when the topic came up. The last thing she wanted was to make her friends uncomfortable.

As the heavy steel can bumped into the dispenser below, she bent down to retrieve it… and the glint from something caught her eye. She looked over to see it was a pair of sunglasses — adorning the face of someone she had been hoping to see for two weeks now.

"Ebihara?!"

The other girl started, then grimaced as she gripped the lip of the table outside the restaurant. She looked very put together — on par with something Rise would wear. Long summery white skirt that was partly see-through, strappy pink sandals that matched her pink cardigan. And also matched her choker, which was almost always around her neck like some part of her official uniform. Every nail manicured, not a strand of hair out of place, lips glistening from a fresh coat.

And she was not happy.

"Oh God, it's _you."_

"Wha- hey! Just what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, I don't know. Do you maybe not remember trying to make me feel like an asshole in Aiya?"

"That is _not_ what I was doing. Geez! I was only pointing out that you have to put yourself out there if you want to-"

"Hey, I don't need a lesson in friendship from Risette. Go get preachy on TV for your little fans."

She almost let that scare her off. _So very almost._ But she decided to give it one last shot before she left Ai to her own devices. "Well then, I… I apologize for sounding preachy. It was not my intention."

That finally made the other girl take her sunglasses off. "Did you rehearse that long? Because you sound like the lady on my voicemail."

But Rise didn't really take those words in right away. She was too distracted by the dark circles under her schoolmate's eyes. Was Ebihara not sleeping very well? Why not? She wanted to ask, but she was at least smart enough not to try it for fear of being snapped at again.

"I… I didn't. You just got really mad at me last time for no reason, and I'm trying to be careful with my words. Or whatever."

"It _wasn't_ for no reason. You made fun of me."

"What? No!"

"Yes, you did, you cunt. You told me I could come hang out with you guys, and then came into the bathroom while I was… indisposed, and told me I was doing it wrong!"

Rolling her eyes was the only way she had to vent her feelings other than throwing the melon soda at this girl's head. And she didn't want to dent her skull — for now.

"I said I was sorry, and that I didn't mean to piss you off, so can you stop yelling at me?"

"THAT'S-" After that single word, Ebihara grabbed her purse and started to stand up… then stopped. Took a deep breath. "No. I promised him I'd be better, I _am_ better."

"U-uhhhh…?"

Expression still fiercely angry, hands on her hips with her purse dangling down past her knee, she stomped over to glare daggers straight down into Rise's eyes and causing the shorter girl to gulp. _Wow_ was she tall — had to be at least ten centimetres taller! No giant, but tall for a girl, especially compared to her and Chie and Naoto; Yukiko was always so tall and poised… but her attention was wandering, and she had missed what Ai was saying.

"Huh?"

"I _said,"_ she snapped impatiently, "do you want to join me for tea?"

"WHAT?!"

_"I SAID DO YOU-"_

"No, no, I got it!" she yelped, hastily covering her ears to stop them from ringing thanks to how loud Ebihara could get. "Sorry, I'm just shocked! You really acted like you hated me!"

Ebi's lips pursed for a long moment as she turned to stare at the rest of the team. By now, they had figured out their friend was not returning right away, and were watching with detached interest. "You and Narukami-kun… you were trying to tell me something. I'm only good at manipulating people or bossing them around. No one has ever wanted to be my friend before, not my entire life. The reasons just changed. So…"

"Soooooo… is this you asking if we can be fr-"

"Don't make it awkward, bitch," she hissed over Rise. "Let's say we'll make this a trial run. You probably won't be able to stand me and I probably won't be able to stand you, but you're the only one giving it a shot."

At least Ebi wasn't trying to say it was all Rise's fault. Plus, it was obvious this was the best she could do in terms of asking politely and being friendly. She knew from her years in the entertainment industry that some people just didn't seem to be born with friendliness in their DNA. But that didn't mean they didn't deserve friendship.

"Of course! We're just heading to Junes if you wanted to tag along."

But Ai instantly looked a lot less thrilled with that idea — and she had already looked less than thrilled. "I have class."

"Huh? I mean, school doesn't start until Monday…"

"It's not that kind of class." As she pushed off from the seat, she yanked the melon soda out of Rise's hands. "Thanks."

"Wha- hey! Oooh, you're paying me back for that!"

"Isn't this a favour? Don't friends do favours?" Then she slid her sunglasses back into place, waved over the edge of what was now _her_ can, and strutted away.

It wasn't until she was half a block away that the idol ground back to life and ran after her, shouting a few metres behind her, "HEY! When are we getting tea?"

Ebi looked almost _panicked_ when she turned back around. But it only lasted a second; then she was thoroughly embarrassed and grimacing as she quickly walked back to the other girl's side.

"Keep it down! Why are you so noisy? Do you have to remind everyone that you're a vocalist every day?"

"And do you have to conveniently forget to set the time and place?"

"That's… shut up." But she still looked embarrassed, even if only because her cheeks were a little rosy. She took out her phone and said, "Numbers?"

"Yeah," Rise sighed wearily as she took out her own. They touched them together to share contact information, then checked their screens to make sure it had worked. "Cool. Ebi."

"Ugh…"

"Oh, you don't like that nickname?"

"I dunno, it's fine. I'll just keep calling you Risette, it's not like I'm going to mix you up with some other Risette."

Rolling her eyes, she said, "Guess not. But that's not how my _friends_ talk to me."

"Fine — Rise. Only because I am _definitely_ not a fan." Then she walked away.

Leaving Rise wondering why the hell she bothered. Couldn't Ebihara at least make a half-hearted attempt to be kind?

~ o ~

Rise almost gave up on her potential new friend. She certainly didn't want to be the first one to text after all that cold-shouldering and denigration, and as kept being pointed out to her, she was famous and had plenty of friends. So why should she bust her ass to be warm and welcoming to a frigid asshole?

All that changed late that night.

_EBI: Hey Rise?_

She almost ignored it. Almost. In fact she tossed her phone aside in disgust and finished rinsing off so she could get in the bathtub, burgundy-hued hair carefully up in a towel-turban so she wouldn't have to mess with it too much the next day. But once she had settled into the hot water, she thought better of it and reached for her phone.

_RISE: Hi_

_EBI: Okay so ur pissed_

_EBI: We can call tea off if you want_

_RISE: I didn't say anything did I?_

_EBI: You don't have to_

_EBI: Listen_

_RISE: Ok…?_

But there was no response. She had watched the screen for a minute or so before giving up, laying her phone aside and trying to relax again. Not that she had any success. And eventually, about five minutes later…

_EBI: I promised Yu I was going to change. Stop being this horrible bitch to everybody. But I can't stop, I don't know how to stop. Maybe it was stupid but I thought I would just figure it out if I kept trying but every time you talk I start thinking of how I can cut you down… I want to "win" the conversation. Idk. I'm stupid and you deserve better and I don't think I can do better so if you want to call off our tea time I won't even be mad, not really_

_EBI: I'm sorry I'm like this._

"Whoa," she found herself breathing, heart lurching in her chest. Yes, she had seen glimpses of this version of Ebihara, but had never expected to see more than that. Now she was really, truly opening up to her, and she had no idea how to respond.

But she made herself do it. Maybe mostly because she felt bad about ignoring the first text, but she definitely didn't want to leave this girl hanging the one time she really opened up.

_RISE: Atzrbucks?_

_EBI: What_

_RISE: For tea. I'm more into coffee but whatever, they have both_

_EBI: Are you brain-damaged? I'm giving you a chance to get out of this toxic ass friendship_

_EBI: Free of charge_

_RISE: You said this was a trial run didn't you? Doesn't that mean if it doesn't work out we can walk away then?_

_EBI: Well yeah_

_EBI: But I figured that shit was over. God I even stole your soda_

_EBI: Are you a masochist?_

_RISE: Hey I know I look like a spoiled brat because I was a 15 yr old idol but I'm not that weak_

_RISE: And I'm not 15 anymore UwU_

_EBI: ...why are you telling me that_

_EBI: Nevermind_

_RISE: Lol_

_EBI: Your funeral I was just trying to be nice and let you off easy_

_EBI: But I mean you've seen how bad I am at that_

_RISE: Nobody said you have to get it perfect right away :)_

_EBI: I guess_

_EBI: Tomorrow at 10?_

_RISE: Yeah~! See you then!_

_EBI: K_

Only once she had finished her long soak, smiling slightly the entire time, did Rise get another message. So she paused in her toweling off to check her phone.

_EBI: Thanks_

_RISE:_ ❤️

~ o ~

"So you're really going through with it?"

"I guess so. I mean, Ebi seems like she's really hurting but doesn't want to admit how bad it is. She needs _somebody_ and I guess it's me."

"Weird," Yukiko's voice responded from her phone where it lay on the vanity. Rise was just putting the final touches on her makeup before heading out. "But I do think it's very nice of you to try to help her."

"Hey, that's me! Just the nicest girl you could ever know!"

"Right," she giggled. "So… may I ask you a question? It may sound a little strange."

"You may," Rise replied with a snort, making fun of how formal her friend was being.

"Okay. So Chie got me a very nice gift recently. And… um, her birthday is coming up. Eventually."

"Yeah?" She wasn't getting the whole truth. Rise could tell — mostly because she was pretty sure Chie's birthday was in July, which was still quite a ways off. But she decided it would be cruel to call Yukiko out on hedging around the facts; if she didn't want to be completely honest, there was probably a valid reason.

"Y-yeah! And, well, we already gave each other necklaces. But I'm trying to think of a really good gift to get her for this occasion. Something special. I'm just not sure… I mean, I know Chie very well, but I'm nervous. And you seem like someone who is very good at giving gifts."

Rise had to laugh at that one, shaking her head as she started putting most of her makeup away. "Right! I mean, who am I getting them for? My grandma? She just tries to give the gift back or tell me all she wants is to 'see me happy'. Can't even give her soap on a rope or whatever."

"Awwwwww," Yukiko cooed. "What a sweet woman."

"She is." Then she cleared her throat. "Okay, so. You wanna get Chie something spicy, or sweet?"

"O-oh, I don't really know. I just know I gave her jewelry for… Christmas." Another lie. "So I think this gift should be something different, but I'm not sure what."

Rise wanted to flat out ask if they were a little bit more than just friends, as she had begun to suspect. But she didn't want to embarrass either of them just in case she was wrong. "Right. Well, uh, I know she's really into kung fu. Maybe you could get her some DVDs? Or hey — who's her favorite action star? Bruce Lee, Jet Li?"

"Oh, I… think it's Sammy… something? Sonny? Her favourite movie is 'Project A', I remember that much."

"Don't know it. But yeah! Why don't you see if you can track down a poster of that movie? Or I could try to help you, I guess; I wouldn't mind."

"O-oh, you don't have to do that! This isn't your responsibility! I just need to learn how to be a better girlf… fr… a better _friend,_ yes."

Well, that definitely seemed to be confirmation. Rise's eyebrow went up, but she very delicately kept herself from asking a question right away. "Yeah, _girlfriend,_ I get you." There; maybe that would make Yukiko feel less awkward.

"R-right! Yes! Hahahaha… haaaa…" The junior innkeeper cleared her throat before saying, "Alright, I u-um, I should let you go so you won't be late to meet up with Ebihara-san."

"It's not that crucial," she laughed easily. "But I mean, good luck? You got this. And I'm sure whatever you end up doing for her birthday is gonna be magical; you're super nice, and super thoughtful like that. Won't even be an issue."

"Oh, I really hope you're right. Thank you, Rise. And have fun!"

"I'll do my best!"

But as she hung up and stared at herself in the mirror, Rise had to wonder just how much fun she was about to have. What would they even have to talk about?

* * *

_To Be Continued…_


	3. Chapter 3

They were about to find out.

Okina City had more opportunities for fun compared to the sleepy town of Inaba. Lots more shopping, dining, sights, sounds, smells. Rise breathed in the atmosphere with a huge grin as she walked through Okina Station, a slight warmth blossoming in her middle; even if she was very comfortable in her hometown, she did start to feel stir crazy due to the limited activities available. It was nice to get out once in awhile.

"Ebi-chaaaaan!" she called out to her cheerfully as she jogged down the station steps. The teen queen clad in the pink A-line with the kitschy black belt barely turned to look at her when she was tackled from behind.

"AH! Hey, hey, easy on the merchandise! Which is me, of course."

"Nope! We're gonna start bonding right away! I won't let you down!" That was one of her catchphrases in a drama she had starred in briefly. She even threw in a wink.

 _"Ugh._ I'm not a hugger, okay?"

"Well, you said you wanted to give friendship a trial run, and this is the kind of thing friends do."

"Fine. Now that we're here, Atzrbucks or that fancy place? Chagall?"

Rise waggled her eyebrows at Ebihara, who only raised her own. "Oooh, _fancy._ You going to treat us with Daddy's money?"

"Sure. I mean, what do I care? As long as I don't buy a random sports car it's like the bank account is bottomless." Then she sighed. "No… I said I would stop doing that. And I will. But I don't think going to an upscale cafe would be a problem."

So they moved on to the Cafe Chagall. As they walked, Ebihara cast a longing look aside at a clothing store called Croco Fur, but she didn't stop until they were inside the lovely restaurant just past the boutique.

"Hey, you sure you didn't want to hit that place?"

"What?" Ai asked distractedly as they claimed one of the seats in the corner. "Oh… no, not really. I used to go there a lot… with…"

She didn't even have to finish. Rise frowned across the table at her. "I miss him, too."

"Hey, we don't have to spend this whole time throwing ourselves a pity party," she scoffed. "To hell with that. We are a couple of gorgeous, fierce women, and the world is our oyster. Maybe we can cruise a few guys."

"Oh, you're over Yu-kun already?" she asked, surprised.

"No. But it doesn't seem to matter, does it? He's gone anyway."

Rise felt her heart strings twinge. Poor Ai didn't even want to admit that she missed him — or at least, not the full extent of how much she missed him. So she reached across the white-and-blue-plaid tablecloth to pat her hand.

"So is that a no on cruising for guys?"

"I dunno," Rise laughed softly, taking her hand back as a man with dark glasses approached. She would have thought he was some random creep if not for the apron denoting he worked there.

"Good morning. You are more brave than I expected from girls of your age."

"I… huh?"

"My brewing process results in a blend that requires strong intestinal fortitude to weather," he went on in an ominous tone, jaw set behind his goatee. "I refuse to compromise my standards for anyone, even women."

"Excuse me?" Ebi demanded with raised eyebrows, sitting back and folding her arms over her chest. "You think we can't handle your coffee just because we're girls?"

"Hey, we're a lot stronger than you think, dude," Rise shot up at him. But unlike her friend, she felt guilty afterward and bowed slightly. "Sir." He was their elder, after all, and the owner of the establishment by the look of things.

"Are you?" he murmured, turned away from their table and staring off into the distance like some kind of anti-hero. "Very well. Then you shall place your order and the chips will fall where they may."

They both stared at him for a moment before Ai said, "Anyway… I'll have a nonfat latte, a drizzle of caramel."

"We don't serve that here. Not on my watch."

"Then what _do_ you sell?" Rise asked more reasonably, hoping if she wasn't rude they would get this interaction over with quicker. "I thought I saw some pastries in the case on our way in."

"That is none of my concern."

"What kind of place is this, exactly?" Ai demanded in a rising tone of voice. "Do you want us to be clientele or do you want us to take our business elsewhere? Because you sure don't act like it matters if you make a sale right now!"

The man slowly shook his head, still staring into the distance. "That matters not. Only the experience, the rejuvenation of your mind."

Before her friend could speak again, Rise quickly said, "Two! We'll take two, and a couple of scones. Or whatever cake. Just bring us something."

The other two looked a little surprised, but the man did nod and move off behind the counter. "Got rid of Mr. Intensity 1994," Ai whispered. "I'm impressed, Kujikawa."

"Thank you, thank you. I'm doing my best!" She gave an exaggerated wink and giggle, earning her a long sigh from the other girl. "Okay, okay. So now we're here, we ordered coffee. What's up next?"

"You're asking me? I thought you were some big expert on friendship. Everybody knows you."

Rise smiled, looking around at the rest of the customers in the cafe. People going about their lives. "You would really think so, wouldn't you?"

"Hmm?"

"Listen. Just because I'm popular now doesn't mean I always was. Nobody expected me to amount to anything my whole life. And my parents… I still don't think they care about me. When I was little, all they wanted was for me to behave myself, so I did my best, like I always do, hoping that would earn their love. At least my grandmother has always believed in me, but even her, I would overhear her talking to my mom, telling her how worried she was that I wasn't going to be able to find my way in life. So… until I won that idol competition, I pretty much thought I was trash along with everybody else."

There was a small noise from the other side of the table. When she looked up, she could see Ebihara's lips squirming. "Ugh. It's really hard not to insult you when it's so easy. You're making it easy! Are you trying to trip me up on purpose?"

"What? No! God, can you stop being so paranoid? I'm really opening up to you — and you're the one over there coming up with insults!"

"FINE!" But immediately after half-shouting that, she ducked her head and covered her eyes. "No… you're right, I'm being a dick. Ignore me."

"Yeah, that might be a little difficult when the whole point of today is me getting to know you," she laughed.

"UGH."

"Hey. You seemed to talk with no problem last night, over text. Is it just harder to do it in person?"

This time, despite being taller than Rise, Ebihara looked small and helpless. With visible effort, she leaned forward and whispered, "I don't have to hear people's tone."

"Huh? What tone?"

"Mocking tone. You… tease me, everybody's teasing me… it's been like that my entire life. I had to change my behavior and assert my dominance, take control of my destiny. Or I would have been kicked around forever. Surely you can understand, after what you just told me."

Rise started to defend herself, the words were on the tip of her tongue. But she forced herself to say nothing until she had fully absorbed _everything_ her schoolmate was telling her. Then she reached across to grasp Ebihara's wrist — ignoring the way she started at the touch.

"I'm not making fun of you all the time. Teasing you sometimes, yeah, a little. Nothing major. But even when I do that, it doesn't mean I think you're stupid, or not a person! You're just a huge bitch to everybody and I feel like you deserve being poked at now and then. To keep your head from getting too big."

Though her friend had tensed all over at the b-word, she relaxed as she listened to the rest, even if her expression was not too terribly thrilled. "I guess I am a huge bitch. But everybody else was to me first. I thought that's what I had to do to survive."

"Yeah," she chuckled. "It's a pretty valuable skill. I had to learn that one, too, but I also learned to start off with a big smile. So it's… kinda both? Works out best using both but starting with charm."

"Hmm… I don't… have that." Now she just looked completely _lost_. "You're probably sitting there thinking how pathetic this all is. How pathetic I am."

"Nope. Just that it's really sad everybody around you was so mean that they turned you into Regina George. It's not your fault. I think you probably did the best you could to be fabulous instead of frustrated."

"I did. And when we moved to Inaba, I swore to myself that I would never be bullied again. That I would take control of my destiny and totally reinvent myself. And I did! But I guess… you and Narukami have really proven to me that my journey isn't finished yet."

"Nope," she said with a big grin. And this time…

Ai smiled back at her. The expression was hesitant, the smile tiny, and her eyes were just as sad as they had been before. But it was such a big step in the right direction that Rise felt her heart leap in her chest. It was working! Maybe deep down, she had believed it was a pointless endeavour, but it was working against all those odds. Miracles happened every day.

"I got you," Rise said quietly, gripping tighter. "For real."

"Gross. But… thank you." The moment passed, and Ai pulled her hands back into her lap with a clearing of her throat. "Ugh, too much sharing and caring. Now I feel weird. Where is our goddamn coffee?!"

"Right here."

Both girls practically _threw_ their chairs back from the table as their intimidating waiter set down a tray in front of them. As requested, two cups of coffee, and two scones.

"Oh… I, u-uh, thanks," Rise managed with a shaky smile. "What do we owe you?"

"Perhaps nothing. Perhaps… everything. Only time will tell." As he adjusted his sunglasses, a gleam reflected from the lighting; it was oddly cinematic. Privately, Rise thought she should probably mention this guy to the next casting director she worked for.

"Freak," Ai muttered as she pulled her cup of coffee closer once he had left them in peace. "Alright, it smells pretty good, but strong… should we just suck it up and, well, suck it up?"

Giggling, she said, "Good one. Alright… one, two… three!" Both of them took a healthy swallow.

And the world turned itself inside-out. The twisting in their guts couldn't possibly have been natural. Who would craft such a beverage? Why did they hate humanity?! It was as if they were being directly injected with adrenaline, all while the warmest, darkest creature ever spawned tried to claw its way out of their stomachs. This was far too much for any teenage girl to be expected to tolerate. In fact…

In fact…

~ o ~

When Rise came back to herself, she found she was lying down. Why? And where was she?

Once she sat up, she saw the barely-familiar surroundings of Cafe Chagall and only felt her confusion grow. Did she really pass out in the middle of a restaurant?! This was going to be some spectacular tabloid fodder if anyone had recognised her and decided to whip out their cell phone; not that everyone would do that, but just enough people to make it a concern. They would probably all start whispering about her having an underage drinking problem.

Well, to hell with that. Careful not to rub her face so she didn't smudge her barely-there makeup, she pinched the bridge of her nose and looked around.

"Oh."

Ebihara was blinking across at her, in a similar dazed state. Then she suddenly scooted away… on the long bench they were perched upon. Which wasn't even where they had begun — they were at a table with chairs! Though if they were both like that, it probably meant…

She had been lying with her head in Ai's lap. Wasn't that a little too close for them barely being friends?

"What… the hell…?"

"What did you do to me?" Ai breathed, her hazel eyes wide, chest rising and falling rapidly. Then a little more strongly, "Hey, I did _not_ sign up for this. You had better explain yourself _right_ now."

"Me?! Are you kidding? You had better be kidding, I really hope you don't think I could do something like-"

"Well I never thought we could have some kind of serial killer in a crappy little town like Inaba, either, and look how that turned out!"

Rise shook her head out firmly, clutching it through her hair as she pushed all that from her mind and tried to focus. "That coffee... call me crazy, but I think… that had something to do with it?"

"You are correct."

Both girls just about jumped out of their skin again before Ebihara shot to her feet and snapped, "Are you insane? I should have my daddy sue you for trying to frighten us to death!"

"To die would be a grand adventure," the mysterious man replied, eyes still shrouded by his sunglasses.

"Wow, not your choice. As soon as you're done spouting weird mystical crap, you can see about giving us a refund."

A long pause. "We do not believe in the myth of refunds."

"Just give us our money!"

~ o ~

"Well, I guess that was kind of a bust."

Ebihara looked as furious as Rise had ever seen her look as they stomped their way out the door. "Can you believe that weird old man? He might even have been some kind of creep — maybe he did things to us while we were unconscious! He-"

Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks, and Rise nearly ran into her. "Wha- hey! What's wrong? I hope you're not thinking about going back in there, I've had enough!"

"No… no, I suppose he wasn't a creep. Or he would have…"

With no forewarning, Ai took a sharp left and speedwalked inside Croco Fur. It was all Rise could do to keep up with her, still completely bewildered as to the reasons behind her bizarre behavior.

"Hello hello!" called out the cheerful woman behind the counter, bowing quickly. "Welcome! It's been a while, Miss Ebihara!"

"Yeah, yeah," she replied distractedly as she glanced behind her, as if she were running from some kind of demon. But the only one there was Rise — whose eyebrows were lifted so high they were practically part of her hairline now. "U-um, what do you have that's on sale?"

The woman started. "On sale? You've never been interested in that before, you just wanted to know what was new or trendy. And then told me-" She suddenly cut off and cleared her throat with an awkward smile. "My apologies, you can shop for whatever you want, of course!"

"Thanks, Reiko. C'mon."

Rise nearly stumbled when she was suddenly being dragged across the room toward sale racks. But she was too poised to actually faceplant; all that modeling experience.

"Okay," she hissed once they were in the corner, their lowered voices covered by sugary pop music playing overhead. "Spill, Ebi. What's gotten into you?"

"I'm just… really creeped out about that guy. Sorry." Ai finally refocused on her companion and grimaced. "Sorry, really. I know I'm acting like a spaz."

"Yeah! I mean, I'm freaking a little myself, but I'm pretty sure he just moved us to that couch because we passed out. Wow, what does he put in that coffee?!"

Out of nowhere, Ebihara started to chuckle. The sound was so unexpected that Rise just blinked at her for a moment, bewildered, before she finally started to laugh along with her. Then they were clutching each other's shoulders to keep from falling over due to the overwhelming power of their mirth.

"What the hell?!" Ebi finally giggled. "It's… not funny, it's terrifying!"

"I know!" she laughed back, wiping her eyes with her free hand. "We should probably call the police or something!"

Nodding as she grinned down at her friend, the girl who was normally such a bitch now looked like she was having the time of her life. Such a stark contrast. "Okay… okay, I'm done. We should probably shop so we don't look stupid."

Which they did. They didn't find much of interest, but they did enjoy flicking through the racks and commenting on how bad some of the selections were. Ebihara found a scarf she rather liked, even though it wasn't scarf weather, and Rise found a tube top with a popular cartoon character in the middle that Ai confirmed was cute enough that she could work it. A few other odds and ends ended up at the register by the time they were through. They soon departed with their bags of goods, in much better spirits than when they had woken up.

"Oh, I needed to pick up something else," Rise quickly spoke up when Ai started to turn toward the train station steps.

"Hm? What?"

"My friend needs a poster for… well, it's Yukiko. She needs a poster for Chie's birthday."

Ebihara smirked slightly. "You forgot I actually know who they are, didn't you?" When Rise only squirmed, she shrugged. "I know. This is officially the first time I have ever been nice to anyone, so you probably forgot I was the same person as that raging cunt from Yasogami High."

"Hey, I never said 'raging cunt' in my mind," she hissed at her. "So do you know where we could get something like that? A poster from an old kung fu movie?"

"Hmm… yeah. I mean, not for sure, but there's a place right down that way. Not far."

~ o ~

Okina Books wasn't especially bustling, even for the weekend. Few customers were poking around its crowded innards, in search of CDs or books or DVDs to fill gaps in their collections. The world's oldest music was playing from the loudspeakers, and Rise tried not to cringe; was this really the most modern choice available from their stock? It didn't even sound like it was from this _millennium._

"Hey, Ebihara."

"Hey, Ohashi," Ai said to the cashier. She _knew_ that overweight guy? _Ai_ knew _that guy?!_ "Anything new for me?"

With a little shrug, he stuffed the rest of his Pocky stick into his mouth and prised himself out of his seat to rummage around behind the counter. At first, Rise wasn't even sure he had heard her — until he came up with a CD that looked just as old as what was currently playing. If not older.

"'Purity'," he told her with slightly more enthusiasm than before. _"With_ the original obi. This is some choice city pop, believe me."

Ai picked it up and tapped her chin. "Ritsuko Kurosawa… yeah, I don't know her. Really, who is… wait, did she do 'Hot Boy'? Or was that not her?"

"YES! Poor Rizco, she really didn't quite hit her target audience… just…" He made a whooshing motion with his hand over the glass countertop. "Blew on past and nobody saw her."

"I'll see her," Ebihara breathed with her eyes closed. Then she sighed and said, "Alright, how much?"

"Oh, two thousand."

"That's it? Wow, you spoil me." She handed over a couple of thousand Yen notes. Rise thought that might have been a little steep for an old CD, but not too unreasonable. "Any luck on…?"

They both looked up at the ceiling when she pointed, and Rise's eyes followed. It was still the same upbeat disco as before. "Oh, Mariya?" he chuckled easily. _**"I'm sorry!"**_ His words of English were practically in time with the woman singing the very same, and Ai laughed with him. "No, no, it hasn't popped up on my radar. Sorry, really. But you'll be the first to know; I would _call_ you for that one."

"Um… I don't get it," Rise finally put in with a slight laugh. "What are we talking about?"

"'Plastic Love'," they both said at the same time.

"I… huh?"

"It is pretty obscure," Ohashi admitted with a shrug at her. "Didn't chart much back in the 80s, either. Can't really blame you for looking at us like we're from… Mars…"

But now that was precisely how he was looking at her. He didn't even have to speak and Rise already knew what was coming; she had seen that look a thousand times before, and she was already summoning up her skills of both acting and diplomacy. Bracing for impact.

"Wait… are you-?"

"Yep!" she said cheerfully, but quietly. "But I'm just here with my friend, so if you could please-"

"Whoa, whoa, _Risette_ is in my store. This is a special occasion!" Laughing a little more, he whispered from behind his hand, "Listen. You sign one of my copies of 'True Story' and I will comp you two whatever you want! Er, within reason, of course. Don't bankrupt me!"

Though Ebihara looked a little embarrassed that he was reacting this way, Rise quickly said, "I would be happy to just because you asked. Just one, though; I want to focus on my time with my friend here."

"Naturally." Then he was hissing at Ai, "Why didn't you _tell_ me you knew Risette?"

"Because I have only gotten to know her recently," she sighed impatiently. "Guess it doesn't matter that _I_ am a loyal customer."

"Well, it does, but… I mean… look, it's _Risette."_

"Yes, I am aware," she told him frostily before storming off into the recesses of the bookstore.

Honestly, Rise couldn't blame her. Even while she was cheerfully responding to Ohashi's gushing and relenting to sign not one but _two_ copies of her last single for him, she felt a little twinge of guilt for stealing Ai's thunder — no matter how unintentional. But what else could she have done? Now all she could do was hope her new friend wasn't so upset that their tentative friendship ended before it began.

* * *

_To Be Continued…_


	4. Chapter 4

"Come on, don't be mad," Rise insisted for the hundredth time as they waited for the train to come through. They had been there for a few minutes, bags in hands and feet impatient. At least they a few CDs apiece, and a poster that Rise hoped would do for Chie's gift, even though it was Bruce Lee's _Enter The Dragon_ instead of Sonny-Sammy-whoever.

"Why not? My feelings are just as valid as yours."

"And it wasn't my fault! Like, you heard me try to tell him I didn't want any attention!"

"False modesty. I mean, I bet you say shit like that all the time, just so you _look_ like a precious little princess."

The train going the opposite way whipped past, and she watched Ai's pink dress flutter for a moment until the din died down. Then she said in a quiet voice, "You want to be left alone? I will leave you alone. I just don't think that's what you really want."

"You were going to ditch me anyway. What does Risette want with some small-town teen queen when she's _Japan's_ teen queen? It would happen sooner or later."

"Do you want me to apologise for your friend getting star-struck?"

"He was _my_ friend first. And I mean, not that we're close, just that he's someone I-"

"Because I won't."

Ai blinked a couple of times before turning to look at her properly. "What did you just say?"

"I'm not going to apologise," Rise repeated firmly, her own features severe and intense now. "Remember me telling you I didn't even submit my first idol contest application myself? I never asked for all this. I have enjoyed it, sure — who wouldn't? But it's not 'my fault' people go crazy for celebs. Besides, I even tried to tell that guy not to make a big deal, to just let me hang out with my friend, and he kept fangirling anyway. My input clearly doesn't matter, so I am taking zero responsibility for him being an otaku. Do you understand?"

The other girl looked completely thunderstruck. In fact, she had no words. The train arrived shortly afterward, and they both got on without speaking, grasping for overhead straps as the doors slid shut.

It wasn't until they got off at the Yasoinaba station and Rise had started striding for the steps, feeling like a failure, that she felt her hand grasped from behind. She turned to slap whatever creep had grabbed her, but the creep was Ai, so she decided not to hit her. Yet.

"What?" No answer. Ai was too busy staring down at the space between their shoes. "Come on, it's getting late… I can still work a shift at Marukyu if you let me g-"

"I'm sorry!" she burst out, then cleared her throat to try again. "I apologise, Rise."

"What?"

"Shut up, don't make me say it again. I overreacted and I already feel stupid."

Cranking up the bubbliness to eleven, she gushed, "Oh _noooo,_ I don't think I heard you at _aaaaalllllll._ What was that, Ebi-chaaaan?"

"Sh-shut UP!"

"Do you _wuv_ meeeeee?" This time, Ai did yank her hand away and begin to stomp off down the steps, leaving a giggling Rise to chase after her.

"Like you said, have fun at Marukyu."

"You were a meanie," she told her, still laughing just a little. "I think I get to tease you a little."

"I don't like it. And I have explained why."

"Yeah. Your grade school classmates weren't teasing you, though. They were _mocking_ you."

"Same fucking difference."

Jogging to walk side-by-side with her, despite Ai occasionally picking up speed to try and outstrip the idol, she went on, "Not really. Friends tease. Bullies mock… or sometimes hurt you physically. Did you ever get hurt like that?"

"Well… yeah, I did. But it's been a while. I mean, certainly not since elementary."

"Well that's good. I'll try not to tease you _too_ much, but like, it's not going to work if I can't tease you. Because friends do that, and leaving that out would make this kinda fake. Right?"

Ai raised an eyebrow and glanced over at her. "I… do not follow that logic at all. You're weird."

"I'm not," she giggled, leaning down to smile up at her. "C'mon, it's fun. And I promise-promise I'll try to keep an eye on it so I don't make you feel really bad, and you might even get used to it. And that might help you with that 'everybody's tone is mocking' thing you feel."

"So let me get this straight. You think by teasing me, you're doing me a favour by desensitising me to people being jerks?"

"Right!"

"And that's 'friendship'? Putting me through that gauntlet?"

"Yup! I'm pretty great, right? My generosity is limitless!"

Finally, the grumpy girl laughed as they got to the bus stop, plopping down on the bench with their bags next to their feet. "Whatever. You're insane."

"Maybe. Or maybe I'm amazing and it just _looks_ insane."

"Two sides of the same coin."

"So… I didn't wanna ask in front of 'the expert', but what was all that in the CD store? You two were off in your own little world there."

Ai's face was already flushed from being annoyed earlier, and all that power-walking. But it definitely didn't get any less rosy as she fidgeted, playing with the hem of her dress. "That's… it's stupid."

"Might be. But we're friends, we have to share stupid interests and stuff."

"You're really starting to be a pain with this 'friend' thing all the time." But Rise was patient. And eventually… "It's… something left over from my mother."

"Your mother?"

"Yes. She, um, she used to really love those old city pop singers; had so many records. Her fave was Mariya Takeuchi; just had really fond memories from her childhood, and she used to play them for me all the time."

A sinking feeling settled into the pit of her stomach. "Your mom… is she, u-um…?"

"Hm? No, she's alive. Probably." Ai looked extremely conflicted for a moment before heaving a deep sigh. "She moved out at the beginning of last year."

"Moved out? Like… a divorce?"

"Not officially. Yet. But it seems like it's going to be a matter of time." When Rise opened her mouth to reply, she was quick to cut her off. "Look. After my dad got rich overnight, I wasn't the only one who changed. We all did. But my mother seemed to resent it, even though we were _all_ different afterward — including her hypocritical ass. Said she couldn't stay in the house with her b- with us, because we were like strangers now. And I…"

Rise gave her a few seconds to finish the thought. When she didn't, she reached over with her free hand to take up Ai's in a gentle grip. That seemed to encourage her to continue.

"It's my fault. For changing too much, for no longer being the child she raised. And I got so _angry_ with her, said a lot of things I can never take back… I drove her away. Like I tried to do to you. So you see? Might as well ditch me now before I treat you like shit one day."

As if she hadn't already. But saying that was not productive, so she focused on the subject at hand. "Hey… I don't think that's right." When the other girl began to sigh, she pushed on, "No, listen. She's your mom, right? She's the adult — her and your dad, I mean. Of course if she's telling you she doesn't like how you have changed because you're growing up, like, you're gonna get mad. She's supposed to be the one who can figure out you're just mad and you'll get over it, or whatever."

"That sounds great, but I don't think it works that way in the real world."

"Maybe not this time, but it's how it's supposed to work. So don't go around hating on yourself for something she needed to do better."

Finally seeming to realize her hand was being held, she turned to blink at her new friend, brow furrowed. "I don't… know… I guess I wasn't expecting you to be this… genuinely…"

"Awesome?" she attempted with a small smile as the bus arrived. "Pretty? Hot as hell?"

"Nice. Even to a huge bitch like me."

Once they had both paid their fare and chosen a seat in the back, Rise whispered, "Listen. We're going to have to get used to each other. But we should probably get to know each other if we really want a shot at that." She chewed on her thoughts for a moment as they rode into Inaba. "Mmmm, did you know I actually really like helping out at Marukyu?"

"Hadn't really thought about it." After a second, she relented, "Okay, I guess I thought it was just some kind of PR stunt. But don't read too much into that."

"You're fine," she giggled as she snaked her arm around Ebihara's elbow, ignoring the fresh twitch it earned her. "But yeah, it's probably weird, but I actually really enjoy frying up the ganmodoki myself. Getting my hands dirty, helping clean up, straighten up, checking on my grandma…"

Though Ai had been ramrod straight like a tin soldier ever since they linked arms, she slowly began to relax the more she listened to Rise. "Well yeah, I guess I get that. She's family and you probably missed her while you were off dazzling the world."

"The world? Please. I mean, I do have a handful of fans in Korea and China, but none any further than that. I'm not that special."

"You are. They just can't see it past the language barrier."

_"Awwwww…"_

"I regret everything," she grumbled. But of course, Rise was still giggling as they slipped off the bus and onto the sidewalk, a lot closer to their sleepy little city.

"Hey, can I come over and listen to my CD at your place? I don't have a CD player anymore."

"Then… why did you buy- never mind. You probably have even more disposable income than I do."

Rolling her eyes, she bumped Ai just enough so that they both stumbled the tiniest bit. "Dork! I only accepted because he was so happy to be doing us a favor. And I figured hey, I might as well pick something I wanted instead of just a couple of random CDs I didn't care about. These are _souvenirs_ now."

"Ah yes. Souvenirs of the time you had to put up with a raging harpy."

"Wow! Like, you really only have two modes, don't you? 'Meanie' and 'Depression Fest 2012'."

But apparently, that had been the wrong thing to say. Rise was just trying to tease like she always did; it was part of her job. The more she teased, the more she played, the more fun people had. The more fun they had, the better mood they were in. The better their mood, the more likely they were to capitulate to whatever the terms were — those of her manager, or herself. And it had all worked out, because she wanted friends so badly and everyone around seemed to become her friend when she treated them that way. Even if the friendships didn't last.

But this time, it silenced Ai so completely that she found herself checking on her every few seconds as they walked along. What did she say? Had it really been that much worse than anything else so far? Eventually, she wound up stopping to pull her into a gentle hug.

"God… it's not- you don't have to do that."

"I'm sorry. You know I'm playing with you, right? Just playing! But if I'm really hurting you…"

Ai shook her head and dropped her bags so she could cling to her, burying her face in those mauve locks. "Shhh, you're fine. I… you don't have to do this. Any of it. But you're not screwing up as bad as you think you are, I'm just a bitch. Sorry for all these constant reminders."

"It's okay." Especially because Ai was so _warm._ This hug nearly undid all of the pain and strife they had put each other through over the course of a scant few total hours they had spent in each other's company.

And Rise didn't seem to be the only one who thought as much. Those arms tightened on her back, practically clinging to her as they soaked up each other's warmth. Why did this feel so _right?_ They were all wrong for each other as friends, if all their bickering was any indication, yet a simple hug was like a dream come true. Ai smelled so good, expensive perfume mingling with soft skin just on the other side of that dress.

Even though the lace on Ai's choker was tickling her nose. Eventually, that made it twitch, and then she giggled as she shivered in an attempt to suppress a reaction.

"What?" Ai asked, confused.

"The lace tickled. You wear that thing all the time and I don't know why." It prompted a quiet sigh from the taller girl, so Rise skipped backward, hands in the small of her back. Maintaining a high energy level for their day might distract her from whatever demons she was battling internally. "C'mon! I'll race you to Junes!"

"Wha- hey, wait a minute, what about our bags? You don't expect me to carry all this!"

Maybe part of her motivation for taking off running and leaving Ai to carry all of their purchases was to instill a little more humility in the prissy girl. Or maybe she just wanted to do something carefree. Either way, her friend did scoop up the bags before taking off running after her.

~ o ~

"NOOOOO, give it back!"

"We've had enough of this weird thing!" Chie cackled as she ran away with Teddie's bear mascot head, holding it aloft while the blond boy himself chased after her. Rise leaned back in the food court chair and laughed her head off. Yes, she knew the head meant a lot more to him than just part of some costume; they all knew that, except for Ebihara. But he had been up to his usual mischief, saying he was going to "score" with Yukiko simply because she let him have some of her french fries. He obviously spent a little too much time listening to Yosuke.

"You guys are too much," Kanji sighed, face-palming as he leaned heavily against the table. But he didn't do anything to stop Chie and Yosuke throwing it back and forth, either.

"I have to say, this is a bizarre group of people to have come together," Ai commented as she sipped at her smoothie. Maybe she still wasn't ordering a ton of junk food, but she had insisted that a smoothie was really "cheating on her diet" considering that before she had met Narukami, she probably would have ordered a diet soda and no more. Their bags were stashed under their chairs until they headed home later — except for the poster. That was safely tucked beneath Yukiko's chair, once all the excessive bowing and thanking was over with, and Rise had refused to accept any money from her. She was just happy to help out her friends.

"I suppose so," Naoto conceded with a sage nod, hand at her chin as always. "From the outside looking in, it would seem strange to anyone."

"So how did you all meet, then? Bizarre multi-grade class project?"

There was definitely a pause. None of them were quite sure what excuse to come up with; only that they had to think of something to tell her that didn't involve supernatural hijinks. That would only send the average person running for the hills.

"Remember the Midnight Channel?" Yukiko began.

"Yukiko!" Kanji blustered. But she forged ahead, undeterred, and Rise felt her thighs clench beneath the tabletop. Moment of truth…

"Well, that murderer who killed Miss Yamano and the others? We knew he was somehow using the TVs to announce his next victims. Not only that, but my own kidnapping made it impossible to ignore for all of us; myself, obviously, but Chie and the others couldn't just wait for someone else to put a stop to it once our friends were becoming targets. We started investigating on our own since the police didn't seem to have any leads. And when Naoto-kun came to town and began to work with the police directly, we all sort of… found each other, thanks to that common goal."

Wow. Ai wasn't the only one dumbfounded; the others at the table found themselves impressed that she had come up with such a believable _almost-truth_ on the spur of the moment like that.

"Th-that's amazing," Ai finally said, still blinking rapidly to try and dispel her shock. "I didn't know the rest of you were also detectives."

"Not very good ones," Rise provided with a little awkward laugh. "But all of us putting our heads together, we were finally able to figure out it was that creep Adachi. The power of teamwork!"

"Hey, you don't have to keep calling her 'Naoto-kun'," Kanji suddenly said with a slight frown at Yukiko. "We know she's a chick now, don't be disrespectful."

While Yukiko was looking regretful and beginning to bow to offer an apology, Naoto smiled and patted the tall boy on the bicep. "It's fine. In fact, I'm much more comfortable with that than I ever could be with something feminine like 'Nao-chan'. Just doesn't suit me."

Even as Rise was calling out "NAO-CHAAAAAAAAAAN" in a loud, carrying voice and throwing her arms around the stoic girl, prompting some flustered shovings, Ai was smiling across at the junior detective prince. "Naoto-kun it is. Obviously we want you to be comfortable."

Both the sentiment and the smile were so unexpected from Ai Ebihara that everyone stopped to look at her. After a second or two, she cleared her throat and went back to sipping at the dregs of her smoothie.

"Thank you, Ebihara-san," Naoto finally managed as Rise dropped back into her seat.

"Of course. See? I'm not a cunt _all_ the time."

"Never said you were," Rise cooed as she pinched her cheek.

"HEY! Didn't I tell you to stop getting so physical with me? My face is the real money maker and so help me…"

Things only devolved from there. Kanji was apologizing profusely for presuming too much, Naoto was trying to assure him she didn't mind either, Yukiko had lapsed into another uncontrollable giggle-fit when she noticed Chie and Yosuke had started throwing Teddie _himself_ back and forth. And Ai… was laughing and smiling. Not much; she still looked a little out of place there, not quite sure how she fit into the group of friends.

But she was starting to. Sometimes, a modicum of progress was the best you got.

* * *

_To Be Continued…_


	5. Chapter 5

"Wooooow, this is a really nice place!"

"Hmph," Ebihara grunted as they stepped out of their shoes in the _genkan_ of her fabulous home. "It's a goddamn McMansion. Really nothing special, trust me. But we sure did pay a lot for it…"

For good reason. Rise smiled vaguely as she glanced around at the grand foyer with the statue and water feature in opposite corners. She had seen many similarly opulent homes when cavorting with other contacts from the entertainment industry, of course, so she wasn't quite as blown away as most of their friends would have been. But it was still impressive.

"You don't like it?" she asked.

"I don't like being nouveau-riche. And this big house seemed really cool when we first got it, but now it's… oh, listen to my ungrateful ass complaining about being too rich. It's disgusting."

"Go ahead," she prompted her as they both padded into the sunken living room. "I've been through some of the same things, don't forget."

Ai didn't do as her friend asked until they were both flopped down on the couch, staring around at the pristine surroundings. "Well… it's always been too big. I feel lost. And now with mom gone, it's like a big tomb holding the decaying corpse of our family."

"Yeesh," Rise hissed. "Gross mental picture. But it definitely gets the message across. Have you talked to your dad about it?"

"Oh, I couldn't bother him with that nonsense," she said with a slight smile. "He's dealing with investment bankers and stock options all day. Doesn't have time for me to be anything besides his perfect little princess, so… that's what he gets. Every time."

Frowning hard, Rise turned a little more in her direction, folding her legs beneath her trim frame. "That doesn't sound right. Come on, he's your father. He's going to want to know if something is up with you."

"No," she said firmly. "I have put both of them through enough for one lifetime."

"Yeah, you kind of said something like that before, and it sounded like bullshit then, too. We all get to figure out who we are as we grew up. You don't have to be perfect immediately! So why would they hold it against you just because you were a little bit of a brat?"

Ai's resting bitch face took on a new quality. Pain. Her hand drifted up to play with the neckline of her pretty pink dress as she gazed at the glass coffee table in front of them. Rise couldn't know what she was thinking, but it looked like a lot was weighing on her mind regardless.

"Oh, who cares?" Ai finally burst out with a long sigh, stretching all her limbs out and hooking her arms over the back of the couch. "It's all so pointless. I threw myself into fashion and makeup and all those things, and I was so unhappy, and now here I am being ungrateful that I actually have someone to talk to for real instead of just 'peasants' at school to subjugate. What a moron I am."

Rise giggled a little, covering her mouth before she said, "You're not a moron. You just don't have it all figured out. Look at me, slumming it in Inaba instead of facing my career; I'd say that makes me even worse than you."

"What's so funny?" she demanded when her friend was still giggling.

"Oh, nothing. Just that you really look like Yosuke in that position. With the apathetic attitude and everythi- OH!"

So fast she almost wondered if she had imagined it, Ai was sitting up in a prim and proper position, legs together and fists resting on her knees. Her face also looked almost as if she were panicking… but why? Nothing had happened.

"Ebi-chan…?"

"Sorry. I'll do better." But when she glanced over and saw Rise was still looking confused, she cleared her throat and waved one hand back and forth in the air, as if wafting away an unpleasant aroma. "I-it's nothing, I promise."

The popstar dipped her head and whispered, "Hey, I know we've only been hanging out for like, hours instead of days, but you can talk to me. You know that, right?"

"Yeah. You're annoyingly persistent with that." But before Rise could protest, she poked her in the middle of the forehead with a slight smirk before pushing to stand from the couch. "This sucks. Unless you want to watch the big screen TV, we should get something from the kitchen and head up to my room."

"I guess. What do you have?"

They both wandered in there and nosed around. The kitchen was a gleaming bastion of modern efficiency, lots of chrome and marble, but the fridge didn't seem to have a whole lot inside: a few drinks and some takeout. So they grabbed beverages and a bag of shrimp chips from the cupboard, plus their bags of goodies from shopping, and headed upstairs, figuring it was better than nothing.

"Oh _wooooow_ , this is so, so…"

"Yes," Ai sighed. "So pink."

Indeed it was. Literally everything that was capable of being pink in that bedroom had been given that treatment, from bed sheets to carpets to walls. At least most of it was a very pale shade, so it wasn't so lurid as to be painful on the eyes. Ai seemed to have a wardrobe in addition to an actual closet, and had her own entertainment system with a smaller TV and a couple of old game systems.

Wait…

"Hey, whoa, you have video games?!"

"What? Oh, I- w-wait, nobody was supposed to see those!" Ai hissed, grimacing and taking a step forward as if she could suddenly hide the consoles from her guest. Not that that was possible, given she was already in the room and had seen them.

"I haven't played one of these since they put me in _Karaoke Retribution._ Wow, you have Famidrive, _Super_ Famidrive, Joystation…" Rise started looking through the games, and her host fell silent. Eventually, she said, "You sure do have a lot of RPGs and sports titles. What's…?"

But when she looked over her shoulder, she saw Ai looked extremely uncomfortable and ashamed, staring down the carpet as her toes scrunched in its fibers. Why did she look so stressed? Eventually, she made her best guess and put the games back, turning from the floor to look up at her more properly.

"Sorry. That's… my bad, I shouldn't have just started pawing through your collection without even asking. Sorry." She even bowed a little.

"Oh… it, um, it's fine. And those are really old, I haven't even played all of them."

"We don't have to talk about that." Privately, Rise thought the collection looked meticulously cared for, and there wasn't a speck of dust on any of the consoles or the games. But she didn't want to push the matter because it really seemed like she had done something wrong by drawing so much attention to it.

"Good. They're old and stupid." She cleared her throat. "Do you… want to try on some of my clothes? Or… ugh, I sound like a complete idiot."

But Rise merely stood up and rested a hand on her shoulder. "You've never had anybody over here, right? Haven't made many friends since you moved. I get it, it's okay."

 _Very_ hesitantly, she squinted at her, swallowed hard, and whispered, "Really? You don't think I'm a lame freak for being nervous about it?"

"No. Now, do you have a CD player?"

"I usually just use my Joystation." Then she froze in place, as if she had caught herself saying something wrong.

"Cool! That works." Maybe if she just acted super casual about everything, it would set her new friend at ease. "Want to put in your CD? That old one."

"I thought you wanted to listen to yours while you were here…"

"Oh, we have time," she giggled with a little bounce, shaking Ai's arm. "Come on, let's set this party off!"

Talked into action, Ebihara rolled her eyes hard. "Well, if you're going to _beg_ I guess I might as well give in." However, Rise could see her cheeks bunching with a smile once she had turned away, grabbing up one of her shopping bags and digging around for the album.

"Let me take a look in here," Rise called out as she skipped over to the wardrobe and threw it open. "Dresses, dresses… you _really_ like dresses."

"All the skirts and capris and whatever are in the closet," she called over to her as she messed around with the console, trying to get music playing. "And most of my blouses. Oh — here we go."

As soon as it started, it was so upbeat and cheesy that Rise burst out in a fit of giggles. But she looked over to check if Ai was offended — she was — so she quickly followed up with, "It's cute! I just haven't listened to old-fashioned music like this in a while."

"Yeah, yeah, you hate it." Suddenly, a patent leather pump hit her in the head. "HEY! The hell are you doing, throwing my shoes? AT ME?!"

"Stop that!" Rise admonished her, already rearing back with the matching pump. "I didn't say you were a loser for listening to it, just that it's not usually my thing. But it's good!"

"I can turn it off, it's no big-" When she saw her taking aim with the other shoe, she raised both hands and set the controller down. "Okay, okay, you monster! We'll let it play."

"Good. Now come over here and play with your own personal Dress Up Rise doll. Do you have any idea how many fans would kill to be in your position?"

Shaking her head, she snorted as she stood up and walked over to join her. "Thought I made it crystal clear I am _not_ a fan. But I guess…" A smile began to take over her features. "Can… I try yours on?"

"Huh? This stuff? I mean, it's nothing special… and you're taller, it could look weird. But you're also really trim and cute, so I guess it might work."

"Cool, thanks. And here — I think you could rock this pretty well." She snatched a red mini dress from the rack in the wardrobe and held it out to her. "I can turn around — or leave the room, if you want."

Rise was already giggling as she began to pull off her blouse. "Why? I'm not shy like that. I mean, only because I trust you not to take pictures; _that_ would piss me off."

Unfortunately, the conversation was temporarily put on hold while Ai stared in wonder as she changed right in front of her. Rise really felt sorry for her; did she really never have any friends at all? It seemed so. Sure, Rise herself didn't take them for granted, either, since her own pool of friendships had been rather thin before she achieved national stardom. But Ai had no one _at all_. That was such a depressing existence…

"What's the matter?" she finally asked once she had stepped out of her white capris, leaving herself in her underwear and reaching for the dress.

"N-nothing, mind your own business." But the light blush in Ai's cheeks said that she wasn't nearly as comfortable with changing in front of anyone as she wished.

"Okay, sheesh." Then she handed over the capris as she started turning the dress to figure it out. She saw Ai struggling to pull them up beneath her dress and she laughed. "Do you think you're at the beach? You don't have to do that, either."

"What? Is this… is it weird?"

"Well… no, I guess it's not that bad. But you don't have to be so modest; it's not like you don't have anything I haven't seen before in the mirror." Rise laughed.

Ai did not. But it may just have been because she was focusing on not looking completely chagrined. Once she had the capris on, she finally did shuck the dress in one aggravated movement, as if trying to force herself to do it caused the motion to be faster.

"Hey, these are nice," Rise giggled as she poked one of her friend's boobs. The taller girl let out a blast of startled air, then slapped both forearms across her chest. "Aww, she's still shy! You're so cute, Ebi-chan!"

"St-stop harassing me, you pop star pervert!" This time, Rise's laughter was contagious, and they were both giggling as the song changed. This one was a floatier, more romantic number. "Oh…"

As she shimmied the red fabric all the way down her body, situating it in place, Rise asked, "What is it?"

"Nothing." At least this time, that pointed stare was enough to prompt her to try again. "It's… I didn't know… I've heard my mom listen to this. 'Purity'; I remember now."

"Oh. Well… we can change it, or… we can enjoy it?" She paused to take up both of her friend's hands and squeeze them tightly. "Whatever you need."

"No…" A deep breath. "No, it's fine. This is good; it's basically all I have left of her, she never calls anymore." After a few blinks of surprise at herself, she cleared her throat and started to sway their arms back and forth.

"I get you. My parents… well, you probably read all about it. Old news."

"Tell me."

"Well… we broke all contact, too," Rise admitted as they began to turn in a slow circle. "They got really demanding about my career, and it felt like they didn't care about me as a daughter anymore. Just as a source of income and attention. I know I should probably try to make up with them sometime, we all just didn't understand each other very well. But it's… hard."

"I can't imagine. Being disappointed, definitely, but not that level of… I don't know, almost manipulation?"

"Yep. Manipulation is pretty dead on, as much as it sucks to say it."

"Yeah. I…" A couple of quiet seconds of swaying as Ai tried to find her words. At some point, Rise had reached up to rest her hand on her friend's shoulder, and a hand had moved to her own waist. "I think they made a mistake. You've been the most amazing friend I've ever had."

"Give it a few more days," she snickered. "And a few more friends. You only think I'm that great 'cause you haven't had any others lately."

"Like I need them! Tch. You're already best friend material, and I only accept the best. So there's no point in window-shopping around for cheap knockoffs."

Somehow… Ai had made that both sound like she was doing her a favor, and paying her the highest compliment imaginable. It was incredibly sweet in a bizarrely demanding way. Perfectly Ebihara.

Realizing that was what made her also realize they had been slow dancing for a couple of minutes now. Without her heeled sandals, she was even shorter than usual, which meant she had to gaze upward into her tall friend's face to see how she was doing. And when she saw she was staring back…

Ai actually looked content. For once in her life, she looked like she was at peace, just dancing to some old city pop slow jam in her bedroom. She wasn't trying to exploit Rise, wasn't as disinterested as she had once pretended. No, her entire focus was on her, and just because she liked her.

Almost like…

"Careful, cutie," she joked with a dimple-graced grin. "If I didn't know any better, I would say you're hitting on me."

"Hm?" Ai breathed distantly, clearly distracted by her own thoughts.

"It's okay, I'm just being dumb. You're fine, Ebi-chan." She leaned up and pressed a gentle kiss into Ai's cheek before pulling back to bite her bottom lip for a moment. Maybe she was just doing it to be kind… but she also suspected she was doing it because of the slow dance. A tender gesture like that just seemed to suit the song, the mood, the whole moment.

That single peck left her friend speechless again. Rise almost began to say something before she saw her moving, and she held her words for a moment. Wanting to let her hug her or whatever. This was going to be a great growing moment for Ai, and for their friendship. Maybe she would even learn to hug other people! Eventually.

Feeling lips press so delicately at the corner of her mouth threw all of those thoughts out the window. Really, that brief contact changed everything about that moment even more: the hokey old ballad suddenly sounded like pure magic, the club-ready minidress felt more like a ball gown. Rise had literally never felt like this in her entire life — up to and including when she had some of the country's most eligible boy bands and actors fawning over her in the past. Including the many unbelievable adventures she had been on with the Investigation Team.

She felt like she was with Narukami again. But instead of having her advances go unrequited, this was what it would be like if he looked at her the way she looked at him.

If only it wasn't Ai Ebihara standing in front of her, looking at her that way. Now she had a problem. How was she supposed to explain that her interest in her wasn't romantic? They were both girls! That kind of thing just wasn't done in Japan. Sure, she had heard it was more common overseas, and _rumours_ within their own entertainment industry, but that wasn't the same as actually pursuing it for real. But then where were all these feelings coming from?

"Ai…"

The unfortunate coincidence was, her suddenly-very-close friend's name just happened to be pronounced the same way as "love". So whispering it the way she had, regardless of whether she meant to… it carried a certain connotation.

One that did not seem to be lost on Ai herself. Not if the next kiss was any indication. Brief as it was, just barely pressing into her lips before it was gone, it still was a first for both of them. _First kiss_ \- as whatever lay beyond the boundaries of friendship.

Temptation to just go for it welled up as Rise slid her hands up along Ai's stomach, perching on her shoulders in a vain attempt to find a grip somehow. To anchor herself within this whirlwind moment. She knew honest surprise was written across her face now; she may have been an actor, but this had caught her so unaware that she couldn't even begin to fabricate responses. Pure, unfiltered Rise.

And now the kiss was over… leaving two very confused teenage girls standing with their hands on each other's bodies, staring back at each other with bewilderment.

"I… wow, that…"

"Rise-ch… I… didn't- that w-wasn't-"

"No, no, I know." Damage control. She smiled, trying to put her friend at ease as she whispered, "Sometimes things happen, we didn't plan… I would never say you…"

Ai licked her lips, shivered. "I didn't. I'm so sorry, was… was that your first, too?"

"M-my first with… a girl… I, um, I did kiss a boy for a drama I was in. But that was just acting." Why was she telling her all this? Was this not acting?

Then what was it?

Suddenly, Ai took a step back, her hands still raised vaguely near her heaving chest as if she were going to pat herself down, or reach for Rise. Though she didn't. "Hey, you have to believe me, I didn't- this was not why I brought you back to my house. I'm not a pervert, I wasn't trying to…"

"Pervert? For a kiss?"

"No, I… for shit that comes after a kiss. In case you thought I was going to try anything funny."

"Oh." Her cheeks flooded with color as she finally realized what her friend was getting at, and she said in a slightly higher timbre of voice, _"Whoa!_ That's- yeah, I definitely wasn't thinking about that! What would we do, anyway? You're so silly, Ebi-chan!"

"Right?! No way!" They both laughed nervously for a second or two, then suddenly cut off at the same time.

"Awkward," Rise muttered with another chuckle.

"You, uh, you can leave if you want to. Since it's awkward. Do whatever you want, I don't care."

Already trying to build up her defense mechanisms again. Rise couldn't stand that; she hated wasting time with important work only for it to be thrown out with the bathwater. So she threw her arms around her new friend in a tight hug, trying to ignore the little tingle in the pit of her stomach that told her this meant more than either of them thought it did.

"Stop."

"No."

"Rise… it's… you don't have to do this just to make me feel better. It's weird. I'm fucking everything up."

"You are not! It was only a kiss!"

"But how did it end up like this?" Something familiar about that… but Ai kept pushing ahead, "It has to have been me, because like you said, you've never kissed a girl before. And you do actually have female friends, unlike a bitch like me who doesn't have any at all. And I get one friend, _one_ , and I immediately try to make out with her! Why am I such a fucking head case?!"

"Hey," Rise snapped, "it wasn't like that at all and we both know it. That was like, a wedding kiss, you know? Small and tender, but it didn't lead anywhere crazy. It was sweet."

"Really?" she asked urgently, finally meeting her eyes again. "You… you don't hate me for it?"

Laughing, Rise leaned up to pick her on the lips again. This time, she made sure the contact was so brief that it couldn't possibly develop into anything more — which was now something they had to be worried about, apparently.

"If I hated you, would I do it again?"

"Mhhh…" The other girl closed her eyes, trying to ignore a wave of some emotion that passed through her. Then, smiling, she whispered, "Thank you."

"Hey, you're welcome. Not everybody can say they got a kiss from Risette!" When she giggled, the smile on her friend's face got a little wider, even if her cheeks were still flushed.

The song changed to something a little more upbeat again. The spell was broken. They embraced warmly, then broke apart and started commenting on each other's clothing. Even if the mood didn't totally go back to normal, at least they no longer felt like they were in danger of destroying a friendship that had barely begun.

But the whole time, Rise found herself glancing back at the girl who — had she been that pretty before? — a lot more often than usual. What if they changed everything forever on accident? Maybe it would be okay regardless. She had to hold onto that hope.

* * *

_To Be Continued…_


	6. Chapter 6

When Rise woke up the next day, she felt refreshed and more optimistic. So what if they had a little fluke moment where they got caught up in the emotions of their new friendship? It could happen to anyone. She made a decision not to let the connotations get to her, and to just be the best friend she could be to all of her friends.

Marukyu kept her busy for most of that day. Her last day before school started back up, and she was spending it working. But she didn't mind. She actually really enjoyed working with her grandmother, getting to do something useful. Helped to take her mind off herself. Staying humble had become extremely valuable after her whirlwind of a career, and she knew she would value it going into her comeback once she was through with school.

That had been one of her biggest decisions: not to return until after her second year. She intended to do some small things, but she wanted to focus on at least finishing high school before she went all-in again, or she probably would start failing courses. And she didn't want to be just another pretty face with an empty mind.

She texted Ai during her lunch break and got no response. That was weird. But only once she tried again on her way home and _still_ got nothing did she begin to worry. Was something the matter?

Of course she knew what the most logical reason was. She just hated to consider it. Would Ebihara really stop talking to her over one little kiss? No way. They were becoming such good friends! Really getting along, discovering new things about each other and appreciating the person each of them was inside. But she couldn't help remembering just how freaked out she looked immediately afterward…

No answers to her calls. No answers to her texts. By the time she had taken a quick bath and sat down with leftovers from the restaurant, she was really beginning to panic. Something was wrong. Maybe she was being paranoid, but everything she had learned from her friends and their adventures together taught her to trust her instincts. So she got dressed again and headed over there to find out for herself what was the matter.

"Ah, hello," said a completely unfamiliar woman when the door opened. Her outfit was very professional-looking; probably a cleaning woman or something similar. "May I help you?"

"I, um… good evening," she finally managed with an awkward smile and a quick bow. "I'm here to see Ai-chan. Is she available?"

"I'm sorry, Miss Ai is not available. She is busy getting ready for her first day of school tomorrow. Whom would you like me to tell her came calling?"

Rise's heart sank in disappointment. "Oh, just a friend. Thanks."

"Of course. Have a good evening." With a much deeper, more polite bow, she backed up and closed the door.

As she made her way home, the dejected popstar tried to reassure herself that at least now she knew her friend was okay. Ignoring her wasn't nice but it was preferable to mortal danger.

Halfway through her re-reheated leftovers, she got a text. It was disappointingly short but better than nothing.

_EBI: Sorry. Busy. Ttyl._

_RISE: Okay, see you soon~_

And then she did her best just to eat and resist the temptation to cry.

~ o ~

"And that's really all the explanation she gave you?"

"Yes," Rise sighed as she walked to school that morning, holding her bag in front of her uniform skirt and trying not to look completely deflated. "It's pretty dumb for me to get so upset about nothing."

"Well…" Yukiko shrugged as she watched the backs of their friends walking further ahead. Yosuke had been the one to protest that they wanted to split off from the group to have a private conversation, of course, but when Chie smacked him on the shoulder he withdrew his complaints. Rise just really needed someone to confide in without getting the whole group's critique. "It might not be nothing."

"Really?"

"You said it was just a small kiss of friendship. But some girls… you know. They are very particular about that kind of thing, their first kiss."

Nodding, she looked around at all the cherry blossom petals that we're still strewn on the ground. "It wasn't on purpose, though. And I didn't initiate it! She did! And isn't it normal for young girls to get mixed up about this stuff, anyway? 'Class S' or whatever?"

"Sorry, I'm not trying to 'blame' anyone. Just saying that might be why she feels strange now. But it sounds like at the time, you were both able to put uncomfortable feelings aside for the rest of the evening. Perhaps she will be able to do that again soon."

"Yeah, maybe… ohhh, this is ridiculous! We didn't even do anything wrong! But I wish I could just take it back, so everything would be okay again."

"I understand. And no, you didn't do anything wrong." They were both silent for a moment before Yukiko asked, "If I may... I'm sorry if this is rude, but I'm curious why you wanted to talk to me about it."

Why did Yukiko look so nervous about this question? Rise had a suspicion - but put that out of her mind as best she could. "Oh? Wh- I mean, why not? We're friends. Aren't we friends?" She even linked arms with Yukiko, nudging her so she stumbled as they walked. But of course, the little innkeeper was even more poised than Rise, so she didn't do more than misstep for a brief second.

"Hey!" They both laughed. "Of course, of course, Rise-san. I just wondered why you chose me instead of the others."

"Because… I mean, no offense to most of those blockheads, but most of them would probably just tell me to stop trying. And Naoto would launch a full-scale investigation."

"She would," Yukiko chuckled.

"But thanks for cheering me up. Really, thank you for your support."

"Anytime. And thank you for confiding in me."

Rise waved a hand with a giggle. "Hey, I trust all of you guys with my life. We've been through worse!"

They were still laughing when Chie turned back to ask what was going on and why they were still lagging behind. They gave her brush-off answers as they rejoined the group on their way to their new schoolyear.

~ o ~

Classes were about as boring as they had been on the first day of the year previous. Rise found herself daydreaming a lot, doodling in the margins of her notebook, staring out the window. Thinking about her friends and what friendship meant to her.

Thinking about the kiss. It was a lot more thrilling than it should have been, especially given that they were both girls. But what had really been the harm? The more she thought about the aftermath, the more the word 'annoyed' kept coming back to her. She was annoyed that Ebihara freaked out, annoyed that they couldn't just both get over it and move on with their lives. People kissed each other all the time! There was no need to make a federal case out of it!

At the same time… she couldn't lie to herself that it hadn't been exhilarating. Even romantic, if she just pretended it had happened with a boy instead of her female classmate. And Ai was so tall, and beautiful, and self-assured — normally. Lately she wasn't quite as confident, but she knew it was only a matter of time before she found her footing again socially.

Stupid. She had looked down to see she scrawled "Ai-chan" in the margin, and scribbled over it. This was getting out of hand, especially when she knew she didn't even really have romantic feelings! That was impossible. She wasn't some actor from the Western world; she had no interest in women beyond friendship. So those feelings could go away anytime.

Anytime now…

At lunch, she did a quick tour of the campus, trying to find Ai if she could. No dice. She wound up just snacking on a rice ball in the hallway as she walked. Maybe Ai called in sick that day. No, that didn't track, since she had been getting ready for school. Then again, she could have just said that to throw her off the scent…

Too confusing — especially on top of classwork. She would just put it out of her mind until later.

A rude awakening awaited her when 'later' finally arrived. Ai was denigrating some guy or another by the shoe lockers, arms folded as she stared down at him. A typical scene, even if it had been a few weeks since anyone got to see it.

"But baby, don't be cruel! I just want to get closer to you!"

"That's more than close enough," she said airily at the boy groveling in front of her, examining her nails instead of paying attention to him directly. "I don't know why you thought I would fall all over myself for you when I hardly know you."

"You… you girls are such a riot," he chuckled harshly, carefully arranged hair shifting as he smirked and shook his head at her. "I put in all this time and effort to look good for you, and this is the thanks I get?"

"That's right, Iwamoto. A big fat goose egg. But go ahead, smack me _again_ if it's going to make you feel better.

Rise felt her heart leap into her throat, and her fingers tightened on the hallway corner she had been hiding behind. This was getting a lot more intense than it had been when it started. So this Iwamoto kid had struck her before? Why wasn't he in detention? Why hadn't he been _expelled?!_

"Maybe I will," he threatened with a dark grin.

"Go for it. Unless you left your goddamn balls in your other uniform."

Oh, that definitely got to him. Immediately. One could practically see the steam rising from his ears as his hands curled into fists at his sides, nostrils flaring. He took a single step toward her-

"Heeeeey!"

Iwamoto stopped in mid-step to figure out who was interrupting in such a loud voice. They turned to see the famous Risette prancing over toward him — because really, _prancing_ was the only word to describe her movements, as bubbly as they were. She latched onto his arm with a dazzling smile, looking up into his eyes.

"Are you Iwamoto?"

"Uhhhh… so you've heard of me?" he asked, his anger slowly starting to be replaced by a smug smile. "I've heard of you, too, Risette."

"Great! I'm so happy to have your support!" A light giggle. A few people around them were already whispering, and out of the corner of her eyes she could see Ebihara crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, no problem. So what can I do for you, baby?"

"Oh, I just had a message from the nurse's office for you. Something about… oh, I don't remember." She very lightly knocked on her own head, sticking out her tongue briefly as she giggled. "Wait — right! she said the swelling should go down and you have to keep using the cream on the infected area? But she wouldn't tell me what it meant, just that those were your instructions."

"What? But I don't have any-"

"I mean, you're Iwamoto, right?"

"Yeah, that's me. Suguru Iwamoto."

"Yeah! But I mean, I wish she'd told me what we were really talking about, but all she would say was that _GONORRHEA_ was a serious problem, and you had to treat it the right way." That one word was so loud, it definitely carried up the stairwell and into the second floor. "Like, I've never heard of that! What does it mean?"

This theatrical scene had the audience right where she wanted them. Everyone began chuckling and muttering to each other, pointing at the formerly-cocky boy who now looked like he was going to soil himself. He tried to glare at Rise, but she looked so innocent and cute, blinking up at him with her index finger tip resting gently against her own chin, that it would take a real monster to try to blame her for her "mistake" — or just someone with a finely tuned bullshit detector.

"That's… there's no- UGH!" Immediately, he stormed off down the hall at top speed. She strongly suspected that he was going to the nurse's office to figure out what had gone wrong and ruined his reputation in one fell swoop.

Rise made a big show of shrugging and saying, "Wow, what's the matter with that guy?" before turning to Ai, intending to shoot her a little wink. Revel in their victory.

But instead, she found she was receiving the cold shoulder. The girl looked thoroughly put out and irritated, staring off into the corner. She took one step toward her and Ai stalked off in the opposite direction, without even deigning to look at her one more time.

"Geez… try to be a good samaritan and get ghosted for it. Not cool."

~ o ~

However, a Kujikawa was not nearly as easily defeated as that. She lay in wait at the front gates once school let out, in front of them so Ebihara wouldn't see her coming. Then, once she strolled past as prim and proper as ever, she fell into step beside her.

"Ugh," the other girl breathed as they walked.

"Fancy running into you here!"

"What do you mean, fancy? It's 'fancy' when you ambush someone?"

"Cut that out," she said with a pout. "Why are you being so mean?"

Eyes narrowing even more, she finally sighed and said, "Put away the puppy dog eyes. They're not going to work on me. You may catch your fanboys that easily but I told you I'm not-"

"Yeah. Not a fan. I'm just thirty years too young to be your jam."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You know… your old timey music."

"City pop is not 'old timey'! It's classic! And I already told you why I listen to- why am I explaining myself? I would like to unsubscribe from this conversation, please."

Latching onto her arm, Rise whined, "Awwwww, c'mon, why are you being so mean? I've never been anything but nice to you — I even helped you out with that creep earlier!"

"And did I ask for your help with that creep? Did I? No. He wasn't going to hit me in front of all those people; he's not that stupid. But you're so nosey that you can't help but insert yourself within the situation, no matter whether or not I want you to. We just keep coming back to that, don't we?"

Rise fell silent for a moment. It was weird that Ai hadn't pushed her away, hadn't even told her to let go. Just wanted to know why she wouldn't give up. However, the repeated insistences that she didn't need her were starting to get to her. Either they cut to the heart of the matter now, or she was going to end up crying in public. That plan was no good.

"Okay, um… so you're mad about the kiss." _Instant_ tensing. "Relax, nobody's closeby, they aren't going to hear us."

"Yeah, well…" This sigh was even heavier than the previous ones, and Rise could see all the fight draining from her features as they continued to walk. "Fine. Let's head down to the flood plain, it might be a little better."

So they did. It was a fairly nice day, not too hot, not too cold, and the afternoon sun glittered on the Fuefuki River as they carefully picked a spot along the grassy slope that lined it. Rise sat down immediately and began to pull out the grass, hoping it would distract her from the way her stomach was twisting into knots.

"I'm sorry," she led with before Ai even got a chance to speak.

"Oh yeah? Why?"

"Because." Nope, try again. "I know this was really awkward for both of us. But for some reason, it's way worse on you, and I don't get that but… can you maybe help me figure it out instead of just yelling at me, or acting like I don't exist?"

Ai had begun breathing harder the entire time she listened. At the end of it all, she gave a tight shrug and snapped, "No. I just don't want to waste my time talking to girls anymore. I need to start focusing on my homework, and on boys if I want to date someone. Getting my life back together."

"But I'm your friend. I'm not trying to date you, don't be silly!"

"Really?" she suddenly flung at her, half shouting. "You could have fooled me! With the kissing, and how much you've been chasing me around, trying to warm up to me? It feels like that's exactly what you're doing — like you had ulterior motives the whole time, when I was stupid enough to believe you just wanted to be my friend!"

"I… hey, it's not like that, I promise! Wow, paranoid! I thought we got past all of this!"

"Yeah, well, you trying to vacuum my face off really changed things!"

Rise gasped, reaching over to smack her friend's shoulder. Not that their friendship looked entirely stable at the moment but she would keep thinking of her that way until it was clearly a lost cause.

"HEY! Alright, now you're no better than Iwamoto!"

"Cut that out, I barely touched you. And you deserved it for trying to blame me for _you_ being the one to kiss me!"

"What? Oh give me a fucking break, you did kiss me first!"

"On the _cheek!_ And anyway, you are blowing this whole thing out of proportion — we're both girls! So what if we had one little kiss, one time? It's not gonna kill anybody!"

"Alright, well… I'm… I don't know! I'm scared it really will kill me!" Now Rise looked so offended that she quickly followed up with, "Not like that, shut up."

"Oh, then like how? Because I'm sorry, it really sounded like you were calling my kisses poisonous, and _that's_ nice!"

Ai let out a loud growl and pulled at her hair for a moment before flopping onto her back, staring up at the cloudy sky. Rise waited for her to reply or continue the conversation, but she didn't. Just laid there.

"Listen… _senpai_ , I'm sorry. If I knew my little cheek kiss would… make you uncomforta-"

"Shut _up_ already." Eyes swimming, she started to push up to stand, but Ai snapped, "What are you doing?"

"Uhhhh, leaving? Clearly you want to be alone."

"No. You really don't get me at all." A long, quiet pause. "I miss Narukami."

Frowning down at her, Rise finally settled in the grass again, laying on her side so she could see her senior classmate. "Me too."

"He just… even when I was at my worst, my bitchiest and my most abrasive, and my shallowest… he always seemed to know how I was really feeling. Even when I didn't know. It really was like some kind of sixth sense."

"Like an ESPer?" Rise provided. Deciding to leave it at that, instead of going into just what else she knew about Yu.

"Mm," Ai hummed distantly. They both lapsed into silence for a minute or two, listening to the running water and the wind rustling the grass, distant sounds of humans seeking out other humans, or going about their business alone.

And it almost seemed like they wouldn't speak again when Ebihara broke the silence. "I skipped classes this morning."

"Yeah?" Ai nodded, and Rise twisted her finger among the grass as she said, "No wonder I couldn't find you at all. Where did you go?"

"Okina," she snorted, and Rise smiled. "It's the only place I can make sure I probably won't get in trouble for ditching. Just far enough away I won't get caught, but not so far it would take forever."

"Cool. Did you have fun, I guess?"

Only then, in the middle of such mundane sidetracking, did Ai Ebihara begin to cry. And these were full-on tears, mascara running, sobbing, shaking all over.

"No. Because I… be- because- there was n-no… you!"

"Huh?!"

"Rise, I'm not like you," she burst out as she clutched her knees hard against her chest. "In like, lots of ways, but I m-mean… I can't just pretend that kiss didn't mean anything! Not when it was the most amazing thing I've ever felt in my life!"

_What the fucking fuck?!_

* * *

_To Be Continued…_


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: I did tell you that Rise and Ai will have some views on gender and sexuality that I don't agree with. Well here they come in the next few chapters. Please take everything my characters say with a grain of salt; these are simply very realistic reactions and opinions, even if less than ideal.

Why could she suddenly hear "Purity" playing in the background again?

"You… huh?" Rise finally managed. She had no idea how long it had taken her to say that much, even though it was practically nothing and she had already said that.

"Maybe… ugh. Now I'm embarrassed."

"What- _now_ you're embarrassed?"

"Yes! Because clearly, it did something for me and it didn't do anything for you, so I'm all alone in caring about this, and I feel _so_ stupid!"

Frantically waving her hands, Rise scooted a little closer as she hissed, "Wait, wait, slow down for a sec! I never said it didn't mean _anything_ to me!"

"You did!" she sniffled, trying to recover from her emotional outburst.

"No, I said it wasn't the end of the world, and it's not that big a deal! But I… I'm not going to pretend I didn't feel anything at all. I did. You just seemed really upset about it, so I was… trying to let you know everything's okay."

Ai was glancing over at her occasionally now, clearly unsure of what she should do. Her mouth opened and closed a few times indecisively. "Ugh. I'm ridiculous. This is ridiculous, I don't know why we can't just be normal friends. What is wrong with me?"

"Um… can I ask you a question?"

"Might as well."

"Is this… Class S yuri, or… did you really…?"

They both looked at each other in shock for a moment. Rise was positive that they both were feeling the same thing, as well: the same sensation one gets standing at the edge of a deep precipice, fighting down vertigo and the unhealthy urge to throw oneself down. She couldn't help tracing the contours of Ai's stunningly beautiful face with her eyes, her proud chin and soft lips…

"O-of course it's just a Class S phase. I've never had a close friend, and everything got mixed up. It's probably similar for you, so we just… we have to work on not getting carried away. Right?"

"R-right! Yes, I…" Rise tried to get ahold of herself. This was too silly; they barely knew each other, all things considered. Brand new friends, fresh out of the shrinkwrap. So what was the use in going so crazy about them misreading signals and sending the wrong ones? They could sort this out.

"Great! Glad we settled that." Ai cleared her throat. "And I'm sorry for trying to blame you for everything."

"Oh, it's okay, we were both a little… y-yeah." Rise chanced a nervous giggle. "Sorry I smacked you."

"Hey, it's not like I didn't deserve it. You were right. Do… you want to…?"

When she didn't finish the thought, Rise prompted, "What?"

"Aiya? We, um, could stop by Aiya for a couple of beef bowls. O-or something." She grimaced. "I already feel like we wasted enough time fighting because I'm an oversensitive asshole."

Rise smiled and moved close enough to put her arm around her. "You're fine. And look; we're fine, too. Nobody's dying!"

"Yeah," Ai laughed very quietly. Rise could swear her cheeks were rosier, but that could easily have been from all the crying.

"I would love to go with you to Aiya. Like, we're friends! We should totally start hanging out like normal friends and stuff. Like, you could even come with me if I'm meeting up with Yuki-chan or Naoto-kun sometime."

For whatever reason, that made Ai stop smiling. But she cleared her throat and shook her head hard. "No. It's fine."

"Oh. Sorry, I didn't mean to… offend, I ju-"

"Wait, wait. I meant… it's fine for you to ask me. I _should_ hang out with other friends besides just you. This is normal. I was… kind of…"

Why did she look so embarrassed? "Go ahead."

"I was talking to myself. Stupid. Trying to reassure myself that normal people hang out in large groups, and it's not you trying to ditch me. I'm sorry."

"Awwww, no need to be sorry." She cuddled her closer, and felt Ai stiffen briefly before letting out a sigh. She could hear it, her ear was so close… "We'll figure this crap out, _buddy!"_

" _Buddy,"_ she snorted. "Don't go too crazy, Risette."

"And you're not a fan." They both laughed and they embraced — really, truly embraced this time, no holding back, no letting the awkwardness hold them back. And it was _good._ Rise still felt her heart beating a little faster, but that was definitely the kind of thing that could be ignored. And she would — until such time as it went away. Even if it didn't, she could take it; she was tougher than she looked.

"Okay, let's go before I get grosser," Ai half-laughed, half-hiccuped as she drew back. Rise could see she had been crying again — and was already trying to wipe the tears away before she realised what she was doing. "Wh-what?"

"Just… trying to help." She pulled back and got a handkerchief out of her bag instead, handing it to her. "Sorry. Here, this is probably better."

Nodding, she started dabbing at her eyes with one hand while the other fished out her compact. The sound of lamentation as she saw her mascara was loud, but she still just nodded and put the compact away. "Well, I did promise myself I'm going to be less vain. Let's go to Aiya."

"You got it! And it's on me!"

"Wha- no way, I will fight you for that check!"

"BRING IT!"

~ o ~

Everything was fine. Rise had been a little worried about how the evening would turn out, given how anxious they both were after their odd brush with lesbianism. No such issues. They were still just getting to know each other, and what better way to do that than over a steaming bowl of rice and beef?

Ai was a pretty interesting girl. She really didn't seem the type to like _daifuku_ — Rise liked them, too, the sticky red bean paste and rice dough was so much fun to chew. But they were so very traditional, and Ai was a thoroughly modern girl who revelled in trends. Between that, her love of Korean dramas and old city pop, retro games, and hatred of aromatherapy, it was interesting how much they had in common even though a few things they definitely didn't. She loved uncovering this more well-rounded picture of the girl she wanted in her life more and more.

The week wore on, and Rise tried to track Ai down whenever she could to help cement their growing bond. They even hung out with the others a few times, and though Kanji and Yosuke kept getting nervous when she would snap at them for making some off-colour comment, generally everything went well. And by much the same token, Rise hung out with Ai's friends — or what _passed_ for them. Kou and Daisuke had seemingly decided to give her another chance as manager. Yu had told her before that she basically just sat in the corner doing her nails, but she was doing much better at actually engaging with the team, by all accounts.

Thursday was different. Ai was gone again, and didn't respond to texts. Eventually, she did get a message back in the evening…

_EBI: Sorry I just needed a day_

_RISE: What's wrong?  
_ _RISE: Anything I can do? ;-;_

_EBI: No I'm…_

_RISE: Ai-chan?_

_EBI: Listen it's really dumb but my mom called.  
EBI: And I just needed a little time to get out of my head_

_RISE: Oh you ditched again?  
_ _RISE: You're going to get in trouble you know…_

 _EBI: Listen I know you're going to lecture me but just save it  
_ _EBI: Oh too late you sent yours before I could send mine_

_RISE: I'm sorry, I just don't want you to fail and get held back_

_EBI: Yeah I know.  
_ _EBI: Thanks. :heart:_

_RISE: You could have told me and I'd ditch with you_

_EBI: What? No. I wouldn't want you to miss class because of me_

_RISE: Are you ditching tomorrow?_

_EBI: …probably_

_RISE: Where are we going?_

_EBI: Come on I told you that's not necessary. This is my damage and my weird thing and I have to face it  
EBI: And sometimes I need to be alone._

_RISE: OKAYYYY okay_

_EBI: Fine. I'm probably going into Shinjuku this time_

_RISE: I'm really sorry for pushing  
_ _RISE: Wait what?  
_ _RISE: ALL THE WAY TO SHINJUKU?!_

 _EBI: Hey I said I needed space and Okina isn't cutting it  
_ _EBI: And I promise I'll be fine_

_RISE: ...when and where? Straight to Yasoinaba Station?_

_EBI: Rise…  
_ _EBI: Alright I guess I can't stop you_

_RISE: Really?_

_EBI: Pain in the ass  
EBI: Yeah fine… 8AM don't be late or I'll leave without you._

_RISE: YAAAAAAAAAAY~  
_ _RISE: We're gonna have the best time just you wait!_

 _EBI: Uh huh  
_ _EBI: Lol you're amazing._

_RISE: Huh? Why?_

_EBI: Nevermind  
_ _EBI: See you tomorrow._

_RISE: Can't wait Ebi-chaaaaaaaaaaan~_

_EBI: UGH_

And that was that. The pop star curled up in her bed with her big plush Jack Frost, grinning into the stuffing as she contemplated what the next day could bring.

~ o ~

"What the hell are you wearing?"

"SHH!" Rise hissed at her as she strolled up to Ai on the train platform. "I'm incognito!"

"Uh huh. Can you take those big sunglasses off? It makes you look like a cartoon character."

Rise pouted as she pulled her shades off. At least most of her hair was still stuffed up into an oversized cap; no trademark pigtails to tip off Shinjuku residents that a famous idol had gone truant for the day. "Don't make fun of me. I'm not used to skipping."

"Weak. But I guess it still looks okay, it's just very… Parisian?"

"Whatever. You look cute, though."

"Oh, this?" Ai said airily, swishing out her long bohemian skirt around her heeled boots. Also seemingly suited to colder weather, but her top was a light blue babydoll tee; somehow she pulled it off, even though it was so much less ornate. Her bag was also a little simpler than usual. "I just rolled out of bed and was this fabulous."

"Right," she giggled, bumping her with her hip. The formerly-grumpy girl finally cracked a smile. "This is cute, but you usually have super pricey Prada or Anello or whatever."

"Hm? Yeah, I like this kind of bag. It is Anello — well, Legato Largo. It's more functional."

"Totally." The train pulled in just then, and Rise stepped forward to board once the doors opened, following Ai's lead. "Where are we off to?"

"Shinjuku."

"Well, I know that," she laughed. "But I mean, did you have anything in particular in mind? I mean, it's kind of… a rough neighbourhood, a little."

"Not if you stay out of Kabukicho. And we will," she reassured Rise with a raised hand. "Believe me, I'm even less interested in being jumped than you are."

"Why do you think I'm 'interested' in being jumped?!"

Ai snorted as she held onto a strap and the train took off. "I didn't say you were! Just… because I'm- nevermind, I just meant I don't have a death wish."

It didn't take them long to get to the bustling streets of Tokyo, and switch train lines to run up to Shinjuku. The same way Rise had been relieved to get to Okina, she was even more full of life now that they were really in a thriving metropolis again. So many sights and sounds! Grinning, she turned and grabbed Ai's hands, dragging her forward.

"H-hey, slow down!"

"You're the one that wanted to come here!" she giggled. "So why so slow?"

"Okay, okay, GOD." Taking a deep breath, she brushed down the front of her clothes needlessly, even though they had barely been rumpled, if at all. "Wherever you want. But I do want to stop in somewhere eventually."

"Where?" No response. So instead of dwelling, Rise just sang out, "Okaaay, then let's goooo!"

~ o ~

The day was everything she had secretly been hoping for. They dipped in and out of lots of shops, buying one or two things but mostly browsing. Took advantage of the big city to grab foods that weren't readily available in a small town like Inaba. Stopped to speak to some of the more colourful inhabitants. Rise knew vaguely that a lot of gay men hung out there, but she didn't expect to see so many in flamboyant colours, openly acting so, so… _feminine._ It was both bizarre and exciting. Were there really this many people in the world who bucked societal norms so openly?

All along the way, Ai was becoming more and more comfortable with her. She still sniped and snarked but there was a playfulness to it that surpassed her previous efforts. They further eroded their anxieties about the accidental lip-lock and started to hold hands and pull each other over to see something instead of being horribly shy all the while. Progress was progress.

Finally, a little after they had enjoyed steaming bowls of udon for lunch, Ai dragged her down an alley unexpectedly. Rise asked if this was where she was finally going to get them "jumped", but Ai only laughed that off.

"No, but seriously, where are we going?"

"You'll see… okay… here."

"'Crossroads'? Okay, cool. Is it a karaoke bar?"

"Not… quite. But I promise we won't be long."

The interior was dimly lit, and everything seemed tinted red. There was a sort of warm atmosphere, combined with a raciness because of the low mood lighting. Rise was fascinated; she had been to a few more upscale places because of her work, and some of the venues she had performed at had bars inside, but this was the first standalone public house she had entered. Mostly because she was a couple of years too young to really be doing that…

"Hey, sugar. You lose your way?"

While Rise was still goggling at how deep the voice was that had come out of the kimono-clad woman behind the bar, Ai was smiling and turning fully in her direction, hands clasped so politely in front of her. "Not yet. But you did help me find it once."

The woman squinted for a moment, then gasped and pressed a hand to her chest. "Little Ebi-chan? Is that _you?!"_

Rise half-expected them to run together like in a movie and embrace, but they didn't; Ai just smiled wider and plopped herself down on one of the bar stools. "It's me, Ai. In the flesh."

"Whooo! I see that, _wow._ Well heck, you got no business in here; you're no performer."

"No, definitely not," she admitted with a laugh. "And you helped me see that, Escargot-san."

"PFFFFF," she scoffed very loudly, waving one of those meaty hands. Rise couldn't help thinking that this bar definitely didn't need a bouncer because the hostess herself was so strong-looking! "You'll call me Lala or you'll get outta here. Now, I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna serve you two a drop, since your little friend there doesn't look any older than you. Want a lime-and-tonic?"

"Sure. One for both of us."

"Oh! I…" Rise cleared her throat. "Can I have a cherry, if you don't mind?"

"Sweetie, for you? _Two_ cherries." Rise giggled a little, pleased at the concession. While she made the drinks, she asked, "What brings you back to the neighbourhood? Haven't seen you for a couple of years."

"Oh, I heard from _Mother_ again." Even while Lala was sighing, she passed over Ai's drink, and she stared down into its sparkling depths. "Had to get out of my head. I tried bumming around Okina yesterday, but it's just too…"

"It's the sticks, honey. Of course that's not gonna be enough of a distraction. You need flashing lights, dancing, drinking- well… not drinking," she said firmly, pointing at her. "And I'd better not hear you started trying to sneak booze at any of the other places around here, neither. Everybody knows everybody in this neighb-"

"Okay, okay, wow," Ai cackled before taking a sip. "Mm. I promise not to try to scam drinks from other bartenders."

Lana nodded firmly, satisfied for the time being. Then she turned to Rise. "What's your story, sugar? In the same club as your gal pal?"

"Huh? Oh, I… no, I haven't joined her club; they already have a manager."

For some reason, Ai looked worried about this. Why? They both knew for certain that she had no interest in the basketball club — even just being their manager like Ai was. But her answer seemed to satisfy. "Really? Well hell, that's quite a performance you're putting on, queen! All that contouring, and _those_ are fabulous!"

She had gestured to her chest. While Rise was blushing and looking down, Ai cleared her throat and hastily said, "N-no, Lala, she… don't you know her? This is Risette! You've probably, um, probably seen her v-videos, or heard her songs?"

"Oh, it's _Risette,_ is it?" Lala chuckled, waggling her fingers like she were casting a magic spell or sprinkling glitter. "I used to have a thing for Cher — don't even say it, I know, I know. Walking cliché. But I'm sure you can guess how well _that_ went over; I gave that up eventually, settled on this." She fluffed her violet-hued hair… which shifted. A wig?

"No, I mean she's _really Risette._ Rise Kujikawa? Like, we're going to school together." Nothing. "The Quelorie Magic ads?"

Now Lala was blinking and looking at her again. "Hmm, really? The hair's not right." Hoping to help clear this up and move things along, Rise took her cap off, letting her pigtails fall. They were messier, but she was still more comfortable with them that way than with her hair down. "Ahhh, there it is! Well I'll be- you two ain't kidding, are ya? This would be a pretty weird prank if you were."

"Nope, it's me," Rise laughed awkwardly. Still a little thrown off by some of their word choices — what contouring? What performance, and why were her boobs being complimented?!

"And no, we're not in the same clubs. In fact, _I don't think she knows much about my club at all."_

The way those words were emphasised threw Rise off even more. Conversely, Lala's eyebrows shot up, and she looked between them for a moment… before gasping. "OH! _Ohhhh,_ well then, that's fine. Just found a famous friend when you moved to the boonies!"

"Y-yeah," she finally sighed in relief. If Rise didn't know any better, she would swear her friend was sweating now; maybe that shine on her temples was just a trick of the light. "It's pretty wild; I mean, she grew up there, but I don't think anybody expected her to go back after she made it big."

"Nope," Rise said distantly.

"Sorry," she whispered. "I, um… I probably shouldn't tell your whole life story."

"It's fine! So, um, Lala, you have a wonderful bar here. Crazy good atmosphere!"

The bartender was still smiling at her and chuckling as one of the curtains rustled that led to the restrooms, Rise assumed. She barely glanced over. "Well, thank you much. Real lovely soul for an idol; they usually end up kinda bitter." Then she did turn to the side properly. "Hey, you'd better stop stinking up my back room, _gaijin_."

" _Whaaaaat?"_ called out the lively redhead in the yellow dress. Not that her bobbed hair could possibly have been that vivid shade of crimson naturally — though she was an American, so it was entirely possible. Rise had a hard time telling Westerners apart, but there was no way someone that gaudy couldn't be from the States. "Come on, Lala-san! I have to get on my perfume, where else will I?"

Her Japanese was just quirky enough, both in terms of word usage and her bizarre accent, that the others laughed. "You're a riot, sweetie. But congrats, I guess you're part of Ai's club for real now."

"YES!" The woman saluted, other hand on her hip. Then she laughed. "What club is that? The Love Club?"

"Close enough. Erica, this is… Ai-chan?" Ai nodded. That was funny; Rise could have sworn they were old friends of some kind, and she forgot her name? "Ai, this is Erica… An… Andeshi…"

" **Anderson,"** she provided in her normal accent. **"Boy, it's weird using English again after all that time Nihongo-ing!"**

"Uhhhh, right," Ai laughed, clearly having no idea what she was hearing.

" **Hey! I'm Risette, and I want to be the star of your heart!"**

That single line made the woman's huge brown eyes shoot even wider. **"Whoooaaaa! Holy Schnikes, your English is really good, like you sound like a Yankee and shit!"**

Stammering, she managed, " **Sorry! I do not… understand…** " Then she switched back to her native tongue and hissed, "I just learned that part for a show and like, a handful of other phrases; I'm really sorry."

"Ohhhh, it's okay," she laughed with a huge grin. Something about this woman instantly set Rise at ease; like she was almost as used to doing that as Rise herself. "Why did you learn that?"

"You missed it, honey," Lala laughed. "Risette here's a big idol. And yes, I _have_ seen you strutting your stuff on the news; you're killing it, girl."

"Oh, thanks," she laughed, having already forgotten about that thread of conversation. "But yeah, that was one of the phrases I had to learn for my New York City concert — even though that's the only one I performed overseas. I also learned, ' **Everybody having fun tonight?** ' and ' **I love you all!** ' and a few more."

Erica laughed and applauded, as if she were performing a particularly impressive trick. "Amazing! You might know only a small English but you sound very good!" As the others chuckled again, she turned back to Ai. "So what did she mean? Lala-chan. You and me in the Love Club."

"O-oh, um…" She glanced at Rise, who arched her eyebrows at her. "Ugh. Come on, I'll tell you back here."

While Rise blinked, Ai led the redhead over to a booth in the corner. They were both roughly the same height, though Erica was taller by a hair. Figuring there wasn't much point in watching them whisper to each other, she turned back to smile at the host of the bar.

"Ai-chan didn't tell you why she brought you here, did she?"

"Nope," Rise offered lightly as she tugged one of the cherries out of her glass. "Just that she wanted me to see this place. Maybe you were some kind of tutor? Helped her pass some class? I don't know."

Lala laughed heartily as she wiped down the bar. "Close enough. You know, I'm honestly kind of relieved."

"Huh?"

"Back when I knew this little squirt, she didn't know which way was up. And I could tell she was heading for a fall; she lucked out with her parents, but she was going to throw herself so hard into her new life that she would forget who she was. But it looks like that straightened out eventually."

"Uh… huh," she said dubiously, turning to look at Ebihara again. Now those two were hugging tightly. She would hug some complete stranger and not her? Though the longer she looked…

Erica's expression was taut and pained. It looked like a couple of things they had talked about were less than fun.

"You've got a pretty special friend, Risette. Just go easy on her."

"I will, Escargot-san," she said right away, turning back so she could bow properly.

"Woweeee, everybody's so formal today," she chuckled as she turned to head into the back. But just then, footsteps approached, so she paused in her action to wait and see what happened.

"…and don't you be worried," Erica was saying, her arm around Ai's shoulders. "I wish I could stay and help but I have to go back to Chicago. And I promise, it will get better. Look at me, over thirty years, and I am very happy! And strong, like a wrestler! And beautiful!"

"And humble," Ai laughed, and the others laughed with her. Then she reached up to rest a hand on Erica's upper arm. "But seriously, I could never thank you enough. It's so… _nice_ knowing I'm not alone. Even if I would have to move to the USA to be less alone in a literal sense."

"Oh, you're alone. I'm in a class all by myself — Boss always says this. He even loves my feet because I am so special." When the others exchanged curious glances, she cleared her throat and said, _"No!_ I mean, he takes care of them, with nice shoes! _Sneakers?"_

"Ohhhhh," Rise said, laughing a little too much to try to hide her confusion and discomfort. She felt like Yukiko. "I was about to say, that seems a little over the line if he's your boss!"

"Yes! Though I am sure he would love them if I gave him a chance. Look!" She slammed her leg up on the bar, and Lala was already rolling her eyes in mild exasperation. "See? Beautiful!"

While Rise was politely examining the pedicure shown off by Erica's strappy sandals, she caught sight of Ai out of the corner of her eye — and noticed she was blushing hard. So either she was a candidate to love Erica's feet instead of this Boss character, or she was being powerfully reminded of something embarrassing. Rise tried to recall a hazy memory, some story about Yukiko and Chie… she only wished she could remember what it was.

* * *

_To Be Continued…_


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some shit is about to happen. Brace yourselves. And thanks to everybody for your reviews, I really appreciate them!

"So! That was, um, interesting."

Ai cleared her throat as they walked along the bustling streets. By now, it was later in the afternoon and the crowd was different; most of the people out and about either had business there, or they were NEETs who had nothing better to do with their time than wander around. "I'm sure. Sorry about dragging you in there, I just… I had been thinking about Crossroads since last night."

"Last night?"

"Yeah. When you said you would come with."

"Oh," she laughed. "Well, I mean, hey, if Lala-san is important to you, then that's fine! Though I'm still… I guess a little confused about a couple of things."

"Like what?"

What a would-be innocent question. Problem was, Rise could hear the anxiety threading through Ebihara's voice as clear as day. Even though she wasn't sure why, she had this notion that Ai wanted to open up to her even more than she already had, but was afraid of how she would react. She was too finely attuned to these things now to miss simple emotions.

"Oh… like… nothing." She linked arms with her and smiled brightly, skipping a couple of steps. Ai was dragged along with a slight grunt of surprise.

"Hey!" They both laughed a little. "No, but really, you can ask."

"It's okay! I just wondered where you knew her from." Then she smirked. "Probably helped you with dieting or whatever, before you moved to Inaba."

Ai's smile was a little pained. "Yeah. Or whatever."

"Sooo what's next? The whole day is ours! You wanna hit a pachinko parlour or something super skeevy? Oh — or a host club! I mean, all they do is shake you down for money in exchange for smiles from cute boys, but…"

Ai thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No, I… l-let's go to a karaoke bar. Host clubs are gross, I'm not into it."

"Totally with you on that," Rise agreed easily. "But it's whatever you want to do." In the back of her mind, she was still a little worried about the reason they were ditching in the first place… but she wanted to give Ai time to open up on her own. Badgering her with questions only sounded like the quickest route to get her to clam up.

They quickly found a suitable karaoke establishment that didn't look like a front for an underground drug ring or anything. Ai insisted on paying, so Rise said she would get their snacks. An acceptable compromise. They were soon set up in a little two-to-four-person room, taking a load off after walking around so much.

"Oooh, I could melt into this couch," Rise sighed blissfully as she kicked off her shoes, letting her head tip back and her eyes close for a moment.

"Yeah, for sure. Now I'm going first. When you take your turn, you're going to blow me out of the water with your professional level ability, so I can at least enjoy one song."

She frowned, sitting up to look over at her. "You think I would gloat about that? No way!"

"Not gloat," Ai chuckled softly, favouring her with a brief smile. "But… I've always been a little self-conscious about my voice. Even now that it's better."

"Better… than what?"

"Oh — here's a good one." She had been looking through the catalog of songs and was now inputting the selection into the screen. Some of the more modern places had touchscreen menus that you could just scroll through, but this place seemed a little old school.

What else would she pick but another old song? Though of course Rise had no idea who Momoko Kikuchi was, the name sounded very vaguely familiar… as did the upbeat little tune that started floating out of the karaoke speakers. She sank back into the couch, crossing her legs primly to listen with rapt attention.

" _Hizashi gaaa… hitotsu yowamaru tabi niii,"_ Ai sang in a soft voice. Rise was fascinated. Her friend's talent wasn't nearly as polished or strong as her own, but there was a hint of real power lurking under the surface. Somewhere along the way, she had stopped listening to common people singing — because she was surrounded by professionals. So much more gratifying as a reprieve from constant perfection.

And the longer Ai sang, the better. Confidence made her voice gradually grow stronger until she hit the final chorus, her repetition of the titular lyrics _"MOU AENAI KAMO SHIRENAI"_ practically shaking the rafters. Rise was reasonably sure it wasn't supposed to be belted out like that, given the accompaniment, but it still made for a fantastic performance.

"WHOOOOOO!" Rise cheered loudly as she clapped, and Ebihara blushed and tried to hide the microphone behind her back, as if that would absolve her of all culpability for whatever crime she thought she was guilty of. "Encore!"

"Psh. You're just saying that because you don't want to hurt my feelings."

"Screw your feelings! That was amazing! Really, you need some practice but everybody needs practice. I think you could join a girl group; I mean, you're already super hot."

That definitely didn't make her blush go away. "Sh-shut up! Idle flattery is so lame!"

"And you're adorable!" When Ai sat down stubbornly and began to rummage around in her bag, she pouted. "Aww, come on, is it really that bad? Now you want to leave?"

"Not leave. I just… wanna take the edge off if I'm- yeah, there."

Rise felt her eyes go round when she pulled out a six-pack of beer. A full-blown six-pack! "Uhhhhh… what's, um, what's that for? How did you even fit that in there?!"

"For forgetting my bullshit problems," she grunted as she cracked one open, passing it to Rise. "And you too, girl. Forgetting my bullshit problems, I mean; I think I pretty much _am_ your bullshit problem."

"But…" How could she be more diplomatic about this? "You really strike me as more of a wine spritzer kind of girl. Or something with melon!"

Ai waved a hand from side to side. "Yes, but my father didn't have that stashed in the fridge. And a bottle of wine would be too difficult to smuggle out! Now, are you going to get crazy with me or not?"

"Um, no," Rise told her flatly, passing the can back. "I'm not going to tattle on you, either, but I'm not… let's just say I had an unfortunate experience when I wasn't even _really_ drunk, and I think that's probably enough. So I'll pass. Thanks, though."

"Ohhhhh, _that_ sounds like a story," she chuckled as she tipped her beer up. At least she hadn't insisted.

~ o ~

As their afternoon slowly approached evening, the two girls had a fantastic time in the karaoke. Rise did tell her the story, and she laughed aloud at how sloppily she had hit on Narukami while under the influence of what she _thought_ was alcohol. Entirely psychosomatic. Then they moved on to swapping a few stories about him, waxed a little poetic about what a good friend he had been to everyone. Promised each other they would try to be just as close.

And little by little, Ebihara got freer and less inhibited. Rise was never that uncomfortable because she wasn't crossing any lines — not really. But those reservations that usually kept her from touching her for too terribly long fell away under the influence of alcohol, and she started patting her leg or hugging her randomly, grabbing her hands and spinning her around in a circle as she laughed and laughed. This was well worth the price of admission.

"So that's all it was?"

Ai nodded as she hung up the landline receiver on the wall. The front desk had just interrupted to ask if they wanted to extend their time another hour, and she had answered in the affirmative before returning to the previous topic. "That's all, yeah."

"That's not even that bad," Rise giggled as she took a hesitant sip. Beer was horrible, though she found it oddly satisfying. Still, that was plenty and she didn't want to imbibe further until she was drunk like Ai was quickly becoming. "I thought you might have been really into Erica's nail polish or something. Besides, all you did was put your foot on the table the same way she did — and because you're proud of how dainty they are now!"

"It was lame," she sighed as she plonked onto the couch next to her friend, clearly not intending to take the next turn at the microphone. "I was lame. They were just trying to hang out together and I inserted myself into their conversation. I'm really annoying."

"No, you're not," Rise scoffed with a small smile as she reached over to pat her friend's shoulder.

"I am! My own mother didn't even want to…" She trailed off, as if she didn't mean to say the first part of that and certainly didn't want to follow it up.

"What? C'mon, you know you can tell me anything."

"She… didn't want to talk to me. She just had some information she wanted to pass to my father, about some shitty bill. And she couldn't get him on his phone, so…"

"Oh. Well… at least you got to talk to her, right? Better than nothing."

"Not really. Like, we didn't have much to talk about. She wasn't interested in my life, wasn't interested in my new best friend." Rise couldn't help smiling slightly, despite the gravity of their current conversation. "I'm just not interesting to her or whatever. So fuck her. If she doesn't want a daughter, then I don't want a mom."

"Right! Geez, no wonder you've been in a mood for a few days." She could definitely relate to that. But she didn't want to make this about herself, so she just followed up with, "Yeah, fuck her! You're an amazing girl who is going to be an amazing woman, and if she can't even take time to talk to you? Then who cares? You just live your best life."

Ai turned to smile at her. The way her eyes were glistening with unshed tears made Rise's heart leap into her throat, but she tried to ignore that. They were going to have to get used to doing so. "Thank you. I'm not sure I think you're right, but thank you anyway."

"No, I am. I'm right about a lot of things." She nodded her head emphatically as if somehow that would prove it, and Ai chuckled. "Now, whose turn is it? I'm losing track."

"Wait. Um…" Now she looked a lot more anxious. Why? Hadn't they just cheered her up, decided to forget about her mother being horrible and focus on having an amazing skip day?

"Ebi-chan?"

"No… I'm gonna do it." Then she shotgunned the rest of her second beer, slamming the can down on the table a little too roughly. "You got this."

Rise didn't need to be told she was talking to herself this time. So she just reached down to grab her friend's hand, squeezing tightly in reassurance. "Hey, listen. Whatever this is, you and I can work it out. Are you still feeling weird about the kissing?"

"Y-yeah."

"Then, um… I know! We could find one of those host clubs and kiss some boys. Would that help? Like, if your most recent kiss wasn't from me…"

"No… I… I wanna tell y… you that-"

Suddenly, she stopped talking. Rise gave her a few seconds before she leaned in to whisper, "What? What is it?"

Instead of answering with words, Ai covered her mouth, held up a finger, and bolted for the door. No need to ask what that was about.

"Told her to slow down with the beer," Rise sighed as she whipped out her phone. To her surprise, she actually had a few messages; this was her third phone number, because the first two got found out by fans and she couldn't sort through all the spam to find actual messages from people she knew. But so far, so good with the current number.

_YUKIKO: Kanji mentioned you weren't in class today. Is everything all right?_

Leave it to the junior innkeeper to make sure she was taken care of. Smiling, she leaned back to relax against the couch until her friend was done voiding her stomach as she texted back.

_RISE: Oh sorry about that it's all good~_

_YUKIKO: Oh okay. Thank you!_

_RISE: You want to ask what's going on but are too nervous_

_RISE: Riiiiiight? ;D_

_YUKIKO: NO!_

_YUKIKO: …Yes._

_RISE: Hahahaha_

_RISE: I'm in Shinjuku with Ebi-chan_

_YUKIKO: WHAT?! Why?_

So she told her the whole thing, as briefly as she could. While waiting for a response, she grabbed the key and ran down the hall to the restroom to ask Ai if she was alright — and only received a groan and some muttered words she couldn't understand, so she winced and headed back.

_YUKIKO: I have to admit I am a little confused. How does Ebihara-san know those people?_

_RISE: Yeah she's being a little cagey_

_RISE: Maybe it's none of my business_

_YUKIKO: Maybe. But you are her friend_

_YUKIKO: Oh, Chie has an idea_

_RISE: CHIE does? What are you two doing?_

_YUKIKO: Nothing! Just hanging out_

_RISE: Mmmmhmmmmm  
YUKIKO: Really._

_YUKIKO: Anyway, Chie wanted to know if that strong looking woman bartender was actually a man?_

_RISE: Oh… you mean in drag?_

_RISE: Wow I didn't think about that_

_RISE: Maybe but why?_

_YUKIKO: Hey it's Chie_

_RISE: You have a phone lmao_

_YUKIKO: SHUT UP this is easier_

_YUKIKO: Anyway like it really sounds to me like you were in a gay bar_

_YUKIKO: It's Shinjuku right?_

_RISE: Hey not everything in Shinjuku is about sex and gays!_

_RISE: But… you might have a point_

_RISE: But hey so what? You saying Ai has been a lesbian the whole time?_

_YUKIKO: Oh no no way_

_YUKIKO: Well maybe?_

_YUKIKO: Yuka told me about you making out and then feeling awkward_

_RISE: HEY that was a secret!_

_RISE: Wait did you just call her Yuka?_

_YUKIKO: Uhhhhhhhhhh gotta go_

_YUKIKO: It's me again, I am so sorry for telling Chie. She's my best friend and I didn't realise it was a secret_

_RISE: Oh it's okay really_

_RISE: I guess I just wanna figure out what she OH SHIT she's coming gotta go_

_YUKIKO IS TYPING…_

But she would never find out what she typed. At least, not for a while. The banging on the door made her hop up immediately and open it.

"Oooh… I feel… like ass… I didn't want to… do this today!"

"Wash your mouth out!" Rise helped her grab her lemon soda, and she swished and spat into the wastebasket before taking a real drink. "Wow… hey, I mean I did tell you so, but I'm really sorry you're sick."

"It's… fine. I'm fine." Clearing her throat, she wiped at her mouth with her napkin, then her face crumpled. "I ruined my makeup… I look like a _wreck!"_

She reached up to run her hand over her friend's hair. "What? No, hey… come on, it's okay! I've got plenty in my bag, we can touch it up before you-"

"I was about to… tell you something really important. But now I just wanna sleep. Or kiss you. Or both."

"What?" Rise's eyes shot wide. "Oh. Well, um… I th-thought we were trying not to let those vibes take over, right? So… so I'm just gonna forget you said that. No big deal!"

Ai threw her arms wide, practically whacking Rise in the face. "IT IS! It's a big deal! You have no idea!"

"Then explain it to me," she urged her with a furrow in her brow. "Like, you know I wanna help my friend, but I can't do that with my hands tied and my eyes blindfolded."

"Fine. Here it is." And of course, she took _another_ swig of beer, because that was going to help matters. Rise found it almost impossible to suppress the eyeroll. "You… are really fucking with my plan."

"Plan?"

"Life plan. I was going to… well, maybe I didn't have a good one, but I was going to finish myself and become a whole woman instead of half a woman, and find a rich guy and settle down, maybe just be a trophy wife. Narukami if I could tie him down. And now it's all shot to hell!"

"Whoa, whoa, you're losing me! You can still do all of those things! And what do you mean, you're only half a woman? You're eighteen now! Right?"

But Ai was already shaking her head, tears running down her cheeks. "I don't know… I should have asked Erica… but I've been trying so hard to just pretend, I didn't want to admit it. So I couldn't ask her! And now she's probably flying back to the States!"

"Ask her about _what?!_ Ebi-chan, you're not making any s-"

This was the most unexpected kiss of them all. Not that Rise had expected any of the kisses, but the way Ai _pounced_ on her, pressing her down into the couch cushions as she went for it with all the gusto she could manage… that was new. For the first few seconds, she tried to scream into her friend's mouth, pounded her fists against her sides and shoulders…

And then she just wasn't trying to resist at all. As always, the kisses from her new best friend felt more like kisses from a lover, and it didn't take long for her fists to come to a rest, and then for them to unfurl into hands pulling her closer. God could threaten to strike her dead if she didn't deny that this was the most amazing thing she had ever felt and she would have to wind up dead. She couldn't even lie to herself or to anyone else about it anymore.

Insane as it was, Ai Ebihara had overtaken Yu's spot as the one directly in the center of her heart.

When they finally broke apart, Rise was staring up into her best friend's eyes, knowing she must have looked like a deer in the headlights. Because even if she wasn't scared of her, she was still scared — of this entire situation, of her own feelings, of what this could mean for the course of her entire future. And her career! Was Japan really ready for a gay idol? Or bisexual, or whatever the word for her would be from now on. So many concerns were flooding her mind…

And there would be more. Instead of leaving her to ruminate, Ai's face scrunched up as if she were about to start bawling again. "See? I'm… it's all ruined!"

"H-hey, no…" Reaching up, she caressed her cheek as tenderly as she could. "Listen… you're not ruining your 'plan', it's… do you want me to leave you alone? If it's hard for you to not kiss me, I could, um, I could transfer somewhere; I have the money to rent an apartment. Or I could just… just do my studies in-"

"NO. Inaba is more your home than mine. You stay. And… I won't go, either, because it won't change anything. I just…" Fresh tears slipped down the sides of her flawless face, dripping from her chin. "I have to face the music. I'm a fraud."

That was it. So eventually, Rise had no choice but to prompt her, "What? I mean, you're not, but… what do you think you're a fraud about? Being a friend when we're kissing?" Ai shook her head. "Then what?"

"Me liking you isn't the problem. It's who I _am._ If I like girls, then clearly… I was just… delusional that I could really be…"

Finally, Rise sat up, forcing Ai back onto her own legs. She leaned in very close, pressing her hands onto either side of her neck. "Tell me. And whatever it is, we'll figure it out! I'm not going _anywhere."_

"You might." Ebihara took a deep breath, eyes turning to stare at the door listlessly. As if she wanted to disappear. "Thing is… I'm nothing but a liar. I've been lying about _everything_ since I came to Inaba — to everyone around me, and to myself. When I met Erica, I really felt like maybe I wasn't, that it might be fine! But the more I like you, the more it must mean… I'm just crazy. I'm just a crazy, stupid, psycho who thought he could be something he's not!"

"No, you're not!" Rise whispered — and though something in that sentence sounded a little off, she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Not yet.

"I AM. Because I'm a goddamn boy who lied to himself that he's a girl, and now I'm in love with an _idol_ and I've ruined my whole life! What the hell am I supposed to DO?!"

* * *

_To Be Continued…_


End file.
